SEC’s reasons for excluding Blackshield from bailout package deceptive – Aggrieved customers

Aggrieved Customers of BlackShield, formerly Gold Coast Fund Management, have said the reasons proffered by the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC) for excluding clients of the company from the government’s bailout package are deceptive.

Spokesperson for the Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of the 53 Collapsed Fund management companies, Charles Nyame, said the government was merely trying to save face for the poor handling of the financial sector clean-up.

“We consider the reasons given by the SEC as misleading and deceptive,” Mr Nyame told Accra-based Citi News.

He added: “The government also issued a bailout to other customers of companies that are also in court to contest their revocation. It is therefore questionable how the government and SEC decided to apply the rules differently.”

According to him, the action by the government through the SEC is mischievous and dishonest, especially when the government is aware that the court is on legal vacation.

“We hereby call on the government to rethink and include all BlackShield customers in the bailout package since advancing the bailout package does not amount to any interference in the court process,” he stressed.

SEC released a press statement over the weekend to give updates on the revocation of licenses of 53 Fund Management Companies (FMCs) last year.

According to the SEC, government is planning to roll out a bailout package for clients of the 53 defunct Fund Management Companies (FMCs).

However, the SEC revealed in the statement dated August 28, 2020 that clients of BlackShield Capital Management Limited, owned by politician and businessman, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, Firstbanc Financial Services Limited, Apex Capital Partners and Ideal Capital Partners Limited will not benefit from the package.

The SEC explains that owners of these FMCs have filed applications in court to challenge the revocation of their licenses.