Blackshield Fund Management Ltd, formerly Gold Coast Fund Management, has rubbished claims by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which sought to blame Blackshield for the delay in payment of bailout funds.

According to the Fund, “nothing could be farther from the truth” as there are related matters in court. In light of this, it noted that as law-abiding organization, it chooses not to “wrestle with SEC where it has descended”.

Blackshield revealed that SEC did not allow due process to play out per its regulations before deciding to withdraw the BlackShield Capital Management Limited’s (BlackShield) license.

“It has come to our attention that on 11 October 2023, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) put out a public release, ‘Update on implementation of bailout program for affected clients of Blackshield Fund Management Ltd (formerly Gold Coast)’…
“Our response will be brief, for now… SEC refused to assist BlackShield in collecting what is now over GHS5 billion in principal and interest owed to the company and its related companies by government institutions, saying that ‘…it is not a debt collector’.”
Blackshield Fund Management Ltd,

Furthermore, Blackshield stated that SEC is aware that Parliament did not impose any conditions for the payment of validated funds due to customers of fund management companies including BlackShield. To this end, it questioned the reason for SEC’s usage of “liquidation” as a condition for payment.

“We will not go further than this. We will respect the judiciary processes still going on with the belief that our rights will eventually be restored.”
Blackshield Fund Management Ltd,

Meanwhile, Blackshield urged those responsible to pay what is due to BlackShield Capital Management Limited and related companies so that what is due to customers per its records, can be paid to them.

Following picketing by the Aggrieved Customers of Gold Coast Fund management and allegations that some budgetary allocations were made for their payment in the 2023 budget, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dispelled claims that the delay in paying aggrieved customers of the defunct Gold Coast Fund Management Limited is a clear and deliberate act perpetrated by the Ministry of Finance.

SEC justifies partial payments

In a press release, the SEC explained that the delays are the result of a legal action mounted by Blackshield/Gold Coast contesting the liquidation petition brought by the Official Liquidator (Office of the Registrar of Companies) at the request of the SEC following the revocation of licenses of some fifty-three fund management companies in 2019.

Furthermore, SEC indicated that it is untrue that none of the customers of the Fund have been paid yet. It explained that some partial payments have been made where the affected customers were appropriately validated.

Additionally, the SEC confirmed that so far, GH¢4.6 billion has been paid as follows: “GHS3.1 billion to Amalgamated Fund Tier 1 payments and GH¢1.45 billion assigned to Amalgamated Fund Tier 2 payments”.

The disbursement, it noted, includes the partial bailout program, which entailed the proactive payment of a threshold sum of up toGH¢50,000 to clients of Blackshield/Gold Coast and other companies who had not received Winding up orders from the Court by October 2020 but whose claims had been validated.

Altogether, the Commission stated that 73,541 claims, amounting to GH¢1.34 billion have been paid to Blackshield/Gold Coast clients in the partial bailout program.

Out of this amount,it underscored that a total amount of GH¢ 757,539,141 has been used to fully settle 61,734 claims of Blackshield/Goldcoast customers.