Blackshied Fund Management (formerly Gold Coast Fund Management) has accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of not being truthful regarding the cause of delay in paying customers' locked-up funds.

SEC had said in a statement: "We wish to state that the delay in payment of bailout funds to affected customers is not due to the refusal of the Ministry of Finance to provide funds. The delay is principally due to the legal action by Blackshield/Gold Coast contesting the liquidation petition brought by the Official Liquidator (Office of the Registrar of Companies) at the request of SEC following the revocation of licenses. The SEC will continue to support the official liquidator in pursuing the liquidation petition in court."

In a counter-statement, however, Blackshied counter-claimed: "SEC did not allow due process to play out per their regulations before deciding to withdraw the BlackShield Capital Management Limited’s (BlackShield) licence".

"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'".

"SEC knows that Parliament did not impose any conditions for the payment of validated funds due to customers of fund management companies including BlackShield", it added, noting: "We ask, why is the SEC using 'liquidation' as a condition for payment? We will not go further than this'.

Read the full Blackshield statement below:

READ THE FULL STATEMENT FROM BLACKSHIELD HERE

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).

In the release, SEC wrote, “We wish to state that the delay in payment of bailout funds to affected customers is not due to the refusal of the Ministry of Finance to provide funds. The delay is principally due to the legal action by Blackshield/Gold Coast contesting the liquidation petition brought by the Official Liquidator (Office of the Registrar of Companies) at the request of SEC following the revocation of licenses. The SEC will continue to support the official liquidator in pursuing the liquidation petition in court.”

Nothing could be further from the truth.

There are related matters in court. So, as a law-abiding organisation, we choose not to wrestle with SEC, where it has descended. Our response will be brief, for now.

SEC did not allow due process to play out per their regulations before deciding to withdraw the BlackShield Capital Management Limited’s (BlackShield) licence.

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”.

SEC knows that Parliament did not impose any conditions for the payment of validated funds due to customers of fund management companies, including BlackShield.

We ask, why is the SEC using “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.

We urge those responsible to pay what is due to BlackShield Capital Management Limited and related companies so that what is due to our customers per our records can be paid to them.

BlackShield