Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has established a special committee to investigate the non-payment of customers of the defunct Gold Coast Fund, despite budgetary allocations.
The decision was prompted by a petition from affected customers, presented to Parliament by Mahama Ayariga, MP for Bawku Central. Mr Ayariga stressed the urgency of addressing the issue promptly to alleviate the impact on the affected individuals.
“I wish to present a petition by customers of defunct Gold Coast Fund Management. Mr Speaker, pursuant to Order 76 (3), I move that the petition be read and I also move that by Order 76(3) that the Petition be referred to a committee pursuant to Order 191 of our Standing Orders which deals with the constitution of special or adhoc committees to look into matters referred to it by Mr Speaker.”
Subsequently, the Speaker named the members of the committee and encouraged them to initiate their work promptly.
“I therefore establish a committee to receive the petition to investigate and report to the house,” the Speaker said.
The Committee will be chaired by Joe Ghartey, the Member of Parliament for Essikado-Ketan Constituency. The other members include Nii Lante Vanderpuye, Benjamin Yeboah Sekyere, Gizella Tettteh-Agbotui, Kwasi Ameyaw Kyeremeh and two technical experts; namely; Dr Theophilus Acheampong and Anthonio Kisseh.
The Gold Coast Fund Management was a duly registered and accredited fund management company regulated by the Securities Exchange Commission of Ghana (SEC).
The funds of the petitioners, valued at about GHC5 billion were locked up in the defunct Gold Coast Fund Management following the decision of the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Finance and Economic to carry out a financial sector cleanup exercise initiated in 2018.
Following the financial sector cleanup exercise, the petitioners successfully submitted and validated their claims through Price Waterhouse and Coppers (PWC).
The Regulator (SEC) budgeted an amount of GHC8 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 and Economic Planning publicly reported that he has completed the exercise and has expended Ghc25 billion in this regard.
Government’s accounting showed that this sum included the Ghc8.6 billion meant to pay claims of investors in the 47 defunct fund management companies including Gold Coast Fund Management.