Financial regulators hunt Goldlink Insurance’s ex-directors over 2.5b shares scam

Financial services regulators have launched a concerted seize and forfeit hunt to recover a total of 2.5 billion ordinary shares which were allegedly illegally issued by former directors of Goldlink Insurance Plc.

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) had in 2012 took over and constituted an interim management board (IMB) for Goldlink Insurance, over what the regulator described as gross violations of extant corporate governance. The insurance regulator reconstituted a new IMB in February 2016.

Ripples Nigeria learnt that NAICOM, Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory and enforcement agencies have been working to recover the shares which were issued to some major directors and shareholders of Goldlink Insurance.

Acting Managing Director, Goldlink Insurance Plc, Mrs. Olufunke Moore, confirmed that “a total of 2.5 billion units of shares were discovered to be inappropriately issued” out of which “1.35 billion units were recovered via surrender and forfeiture”.

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She said the recovered shares were returned to unissued share capital of the insurance company.

According to her, the IMB is still on the trail of the balance of 1.2 billion shares which were not immediately available for recovery because the shares had been sold to the stock market by the beneficiaries.

She however said the IMB was committed to retrieving the shares in whatever ways.

She said Goldlink Insurance plan to raise some N8 billion in new equity issue to beef up its capital.

She said the fresh capital injection was part of recommendations by the IMB as it would enable the company to meet up with the share capital requirements of the 2003 Insurance Act, as composite insurer.

According to her, the company plans to raise the funds either by way of rights issue or public offer noting that the net proceeds from the offer would be deployed in upgrading information technology as well as investments in fixed-income instruments and real estate.

 

 

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