Goldlink interim board recovers 1.2b shares

After three years of intervention in Goldlink Insurance Plc, the Interim Management Board has recovered 1.2 billion bubble shares perpetrated by its former directors.

The interim board led by James Ayo as chairman determined that there were abnormalities in the 2011 financial statement and made attempts to conceal the company’s financial position.

NAICOM on November 1, 2012 took over Goldlink when it became apparent that there were anomalies and misstatements in the audited financial statements of the company for the year ended December 31, 2011.

The commission sacked the board, which had Femi Okuniyi as its Managing Director and reconstituted a seven-man interim board headed by the Chairman, James Ayo, to oversee the affairs of the company.

The Commission also engaged KPMG to audit the company.

Unveiling the report of the forensic probe at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), Ayo said the audit confirmed the observation of NAICOM that various abnormalities identified in the 2011 financial statement were attempts to conceal the company’s true financial position.

He said several irregularities were perpetuated by the former executives and staff of the company, adding that there was a breakdown of corporate governance.

He explained that the interim management board instituted a share capital audit, which revealed that about 2.5 billion shares were inappropriately issued to selected shareholders without considerations into the company.

He said “To support the creation of these bubble shares, the Head Office Building and other assets were valued and inflated by about N1.5 billion. The revaluation surplus was used in part to create these shares against sound accounting standards and principles.

“Currently, the interim management board has recovered 1.2 billion shares through voluntary surrender and about 134 million shares by way of forfeiture.

“The interim board also found out that about 1.2 billion share unit have been disposed of by some of the beneficiaries, and that the interim management board has commenced the process of recovering the disposed shares and associated dividends of about N125 million,” he said.

Meanwhile, shareholders gave the Commission 90 days to reconstitute the board to reflect the shareholders of the company.