Blackshield Customers Gives Dr.Ndoum Two Weeks Ultimatum

By Joseph Nana Yaw Cobbina

A lockups fund Customers has given group chairman of Gold Coast Fund Management two weeks ultimatum to repay their funds or faces their wrath.

According to him, the said Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom Not Caused More Harm in Ghana’s Financial Sector Than Ato Essien Serving Jail Term.

It is only in a country like Ghana where people who are crooks in our view are pampered, hence;the owner of “Gold Coast Fund Management, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom still have the edge to demand money from Ghana Government after he has abundoned and destroyed the investment of almost one hundred thousand unsuspected citizens whose combined investment portfolio totalled over Five Billion Ghana Cedis, operating his then Gold Coast Fund Management Company now Blackshield as his ‘Cash-Cow Company” he emphasis.

Speaking at a news conference held in Accra, the convenor Mr Charles Nyame of the Aggrieved Customers of Gold Coast Fund Management has said that in recent time observed with horror, disappointment and raging anger, news items and viral videos purported to be from Dr.Papa Kwesi Nduom where heis seen telling ‘his story’ in an unfortunate twisted manner to gain public Sympathy.

He stated that Group Nduom (GN) invested the monies it mobilized from Customers of Gold Coast Fund Management (GCFM) in infrastructure projects executed by some agencies and institutions of the Ghana Government.

Mr Nyame was optimistic that before the revocation of the licenses of GCFM and GN Bank (GNB), the loans given to Contractor to execute infrastructure projects for Government Institutions and Agencies owed to GN totalled; “One Billion,Eight Hundred Million Ghana Cedis (GHC1,800,000,000.00)”.

According to him, the Government had pay Onethird of its debt owed, which is Six Hundred Million Ghana Cedis (GHC 600,000,000.00) to GN in six years ago (in the year 2018), neither Gold Coast Fund Management nor GN Bank would havethe crises we see today.

“That the debt owed by Government to Group Nduom in six years that is, from 2018 to
2024 with accrued interest has grown from One Billion,and Eight Hundred Million Ghana Cedis (GHC 1,800,000,000.00) to “Seven Billion and One Million Ghana Cedis (GHC7,100,000,000.00)”he added.

In view of this, the Government should pay the ‘Seven Billion and One Million Ghana Cedis (GHC 7,100,000,000.00)”to Group Nduom, and that Group Nduom will pay it
Customers,including those of Gold Coast Fund Management Customers.

The Government should enter into some forms of payment agreement with Group Nduom and reinstate the revoked license of GN Bank despite the horrible mess and pain he has inflicted on customers and investors, including deaths. They consider the above enumerated statement made by Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom as unfortunate, arrogant, shameless, cruel, and mischievous and therefore entreat the general public to disregard Dr. Nduom’s claims and not accord him any sympathy.

This is because Dr. Ndoum
has been and still is the greatest beneficiary of the suffering and woes we the victims of the Financial Sector Clean-up Exercisepoorly executed by the Government of President Akufo Addo.

According to Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, Government of Ghana owed Group Ndoum (including Gold Coast/Blackshield) GHC1.8 billion cedis as atthe time of the revocation in 2019, which is currently worth GHS7.1billion, given the number of years the amount has remained
outstanding.

He emphasis granted this is the correct position, (the clients of Blackshield) have a few questions for Dr. Nduom to answer.

Firstly, how much of the amount (GHS1.8bn) is principal (from the deposits customers placed with Blackshield) and how much has it accrued by way ofinterest as of today.

The said Dr. Nduom, if it is true that the auditors he engaged to audit Gold Coast Advisors infrastructure development projects in 2018 concluded
that not more than GHC500 million was given out as loans to the contractors, and if that is the case, then does it mean theactual amount of money from Blackshield clients investment in these Government contracts will not exceed GHC500 million, and that, theremainder must have been invested somewhere else, which he (Dr. Nduom) has not disclosed.

Thirdly, from the recent Special Parliamentary Committee Hearing into our locked-up funds, the SEC indicated that the total value of validated claims filed by customers of Blackshield alone amounted to GHC 5.1 billion (representing over89,000 claims). Can Dr. Nduom therefore explain to us where the GHC 3.3billion (which is the difference between the validated claims of customersof Blackshield and the amount Dr. Nduom said was owed him by Government) was invested, if indeed it is true that the actualmoney of clients investment by Blackshield in the said Government contracts is GHS500 million, then the money Dr. Nduom must account for to the customers of Blackshiled would swell fromGHS3.3bn to GHS4.6bn.

Again, assuming without admitting that the total sum of GHS1.8bn Government owed to Group Nduom is from investment of Blackshield clients, why couldn’t Blackshield taped into the other larger pool of investments of GHS3.3bn or GHS4.6bn to pay customers whowanted to redeem some or part of their investment.

“OUR fifthquestion to you Dr. Nduom, is, why did you deceive us for almost six years that the greater quantum of Blackshield clients’ investment was invested in Government infrastructure projects Dr. Nduom, why did you silently keep GHC4.6 billion of Blackshield clients’
investments and leave over 900 of our members to die from medical conditions that could have been treated if they had their money in light of the questions above, we (the Aggrieved Customers of Gold Coast Fund Management) are giving a two weeks timeline starting from today, June 17th, 2024 to July 1st, 2024 for you Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom” he said.

“If you have stated GHS1.8 billion, you claim was owed you is now estimated to be
GHS7.1bn. Then, can you tell us how much the GHS4.6bn you have silently kept to yourself is currently worth including accrued interest based on your own interest calculating model used for your purported amount owed to you by the Government” he lamented.

Excluding the validated amount liable and subject to the government’s bailout package, Dr. Nduom should come out with a payment plan that would not exceed a 90-day settlement plan for the six years of accrued interest on the GHC 4.6 billion Dr Ndoum has silently kept to himself.

The least, Dr. Nduom is reminded to include the13-month interest gap that fell short in the SEC validation calculation to the 90-days payment plan they’re
demanding.

He stressed that if Dr.Papa Kwesi Nduom refuses to address our request before July 1st, 2024, we shall be left with no other option than to settle the matter with him on the street.