One of Groupe Nduom companies, Gold Securities Company Limited, now BlackShield Capital Limited has won ¢174 million judgement against Health Network Company Limited.

The ruling was given by the Commercial Division of an Accra High Court on Thursday, July 15th, 2021.

The High Court also awarded a cost of ¢50,000 to the lawyer of the Plaintiffs.

A statement from Groupe Nduom said “this is the first of a number of court cases pending before the law courts initiated by Groupe Nduom companies. They involve private sector companies, government agencies and regulators.”

“It is our belief that when all is said and done, the allegations of wrongdoing made against specific Groupe Nduom companies and shareholders will be put to rest. This particular suit was started by Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim issued at the Registry of High Court, Accra, Commercial Division dated 11th October, 2019”, it stressed.

“After failed attempts to get all the four defendants to be served in the ordinary manner prescribed by the Court Rules, an application was brought before the court for substituted service to enable the plaintiff to serve the defendants by substitution which application was granted”, it further said.

Continuing, the statement noted that “the defendants with their lawyers engaged Plaintiff’s lawyers with Plaintiffs’ representatives also in meetings in an attempt to reach some settlement. In the end, they failed to file a defense.  The defendants also failed to demonstrate any good faith and propose a payment plan as the Plaintiffs were made to believe they would.”

Groupe Nduom again said “in our opinion, this ruling proves that regulators acted hastily in revoking licenses of the Groupe’s banking and investment companies.”

The Groupe Nduom companies that have suffered regulatory closure are Gold Coast Fund Management/BlackShield and GN Bank/GN Savings & Loans.

The company said the actions of the regulators “have also caused huge collateral damage to related companies as they have been starved of deposits they placed with their sister companies.”

“The judgment, not only absolves our companies of wrongdoing. It also confirms our long-held position that customers’ funds were invested in Ghana with private and government institutions and government projects.  It was based on the prudent investments that we stand by our claim that government agencies and the contractors they gave legitimate contracts to owe the Groupe more than ¢3 billion that is continuing to attract interest. Altogether, the court cases we are chasing after private and public entities for will amount to about GHS4 billion,” the statement added.

Groupe Nduom reminded its customers and the general public that even in the face of tremendous pressure, GCFM/BlackShield was able to return over ¢600 million during the period of the run on the company until its license was revoked, adding “since then, its offices have been locked and access to files denied leaving the courts as the only independent avenue to go through to collect receivables”