The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has refuted allegations made by customers of the defunct Blackshield/Gold Coast Fund Management Company that the regulator is refusing to release their locked-up funds even though the money has been approved by Parliament.

The SEC explained that even though parliament has approved some funds, it is not exclusively meant to pay only the customers of the defunct Gold Coast Fund Management Company.

“The purported release of ¢5.5 billion approved by Parliament was for all investors of the 47 companies that had claimed by investors and not for Blackshield/Gold Coast investors only”, a statement issued by SEC said.

It added that all investors with validated claims have been contacted by Amalgamated Fund and GCB Capital Ltd., the entities managing the implementation of the Bailout.

The statement explained that government is yet to release the full ¢5.5 billion to the implementing agencies of the Bailout.

“The update received by the SEC from the implementing agencies of the Bailout is that so far, ¢ 4.6 billion has been allocated as follows: ¢ 3.1 billion to Amalgamated Fund Tier 1 payments and ¢1.45 billion assigned to Amalgamated Fund Tier 2 payments”.

Providing more details, the SEC said the disbursement includes the partial bailout programme which entailed the payment of a sum of up to ¢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.

The total amount paid to Blackshield clients in the partial bailout is ¢1.34 billion covering a total of 73,541 investors. Out of this amount, a total amount of ¢757,539,141 has been used to fully settle 61,734 customers of Blackshield.

The statement pointed out that the decision to disburse bailout funds after validation of claims and an Official Winding-up order by the Court was to ensure that all claims are verified, and the assets and liabilities of the companies are transferred to the Registrar of Companies.

“In compliance with the Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring Act, 2020 (Act 1015), as amended by the Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring (Amendment) Act 2020 (Act 1031), an Official Winding-up order can only be granted by a Court hence the ongoing court process between the Office of the Registrar of Companies and Blackshield/ Gold Coast. The SEC has complied fully with Blackshield/Gold Coast request for documents and is not delaying the court process”.

It stated that the Office of the Registrar of Companies has been granted 44 Official Winding-up orders by the Court and only 2 are outstanding, namely Blackshield Fund Management Company (formerly Gold Coast) and Kron Capital Ltd.

“The SEC has therefore cooperated with the court process to date and will continue to do so. The SEC wishes to inform clients of Blackshield that the firm’s lawyers were granted access to all documents when Blackshield appealed the revocation decision in November 2019. The server with critical information for Blackshield/Gold Coast was in the custody of Blackshield/Gold Coast from the date of revocation 8th November 2019 until SEC sought the help of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to retrieve the server in August 2020”.

“It is erroneous to accuse the SEC of delaying a process that it has cooperated with in good faith. The SEC wishes to appeal to all affected clients to remain calm and rely only on information provided by the SEC and the Official Liquidator”.