Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga has petitioned Parliament to look into the delay in funds to be released to over 61,000 customers of defunct company, Gold Coast Fund Management.
He presented this petition on behalf of Charles Nyame (convenor), Bernard Agyekum, Nathaniel Mensah, David Opoku and Rosemond Mensah Grunitzky, who are members of Aggrieved Customers of Defunct Gold Coast Fund Management.
He wants the House to “investigate and establish what has accounted for the Government failure to pay the customers of the defunct Gold Cost Fund Management”, as well as compel “the Government to pay the customers of the defunct Gold Coast Fund Management their investments in the fund since Parliament approved the budget”.
The Gold Coast Fund Management was a duly registered and accredited fund management company regulated by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
The funds of the petitioners, valued at about GH¢5 billion, were locked up following the decision of the government through the Ministry of Finance to carry out a financial sector clean-up exercise in 2018.
Following the financial sector clean-up, the petitioners successfully submitted and validated their claims through PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
SEC is said to have budgeted an amount of GH¢8 billion for total payment of the claims of customers of all the 47 defunct fund management companies.
Parliament approved funds for the Financial Sector Cleanup Exercise and the Minister of Finance publicly reported that he has completed the exercise and has expended GH¢25 billion in this regard.
Government’s records showed that this sum included the GH¢8.6 billion meant to pay claims of investors in the 47 defunct fund management companies including Gold Coast Fund Management.
In his petition, Mr Ayariga noted that individual members of the petitioners’ association whose investment exceeded GH¢50,000 have not been paid the remainder of their money “because the government paid only GH¢50,000.00 to everyone owed in 2020″.
“Many members of the petitioners’ association had gone on pension and invested all their retirement benefits in the fund and have consequently been rendered destitute and many have died not being able to afford critically needed medical care,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the aggrieved customers of Gold Coast Fund Management are set to stage a protest at the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, November 28 over their delayed funds.
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