GTI Investors Accuse Company of Fraud as it Goes Cold Over Investments

Several investors of the Global Trade International Investments, GTI have fallen out with the company and accused it of fraud.

Investors say the company is fraudulent and has decided to go mute on more than 500 people’s investments, after almost 2 years of unpaid returns.

We spoke to one of the supposed investors of the company. He said he had invested huge amounts of money into the company, which promised him returns after a year.

“I signed a one-year contract with the company and when the contract was over, I went to the company in March just to be told it was already shut down,” he revealed.

The investor also said he had trusted the company, given that he had carried out thorough background checks and initially found it out to be legal.

“The company does not operate an online platform. It is a government-approved institution with branches all over the country,” the investor told us.

The investor revealed he was introduced to GTI Investment in 2019 by a friend of his who worked there. He said he was told the company was a Trading and Investment company with over a decade of experience dealing with the stock market.

“By 2020 I was able to secure a loan and still have money to support myself,” he said. He added “I made my investigation and saw that the company was legally approved by the Central African Market Supervisory Commission, COSUMAF, Order N°00771/MINFI/CAB of December 2002…”

According to the Investor, the company had promised him a 4% interest monthly rate to his Investments.

“I went to the company at Mobile Nkwen, Bamenda, and signed a long-term contract with them… They told me by March 2021 the contract would expire and I’ll receive my total amount which will be over 2.2 Million FCFA,” he revealed. “…after one year, I went there just to be told the company went to bankruptcy due to the Covid-19 pandemic and they were not currently paying investors,” he added.

*Company’s Defiant Reaction*

The management of GTI Investment has allegedly denied reaching out to its investors. Investors say the company has refused to face them and has rather promised to send a public conciliator to meet them after much pressure.

“We created a group that brought together investors to discuss how to recover our money. When they learned about it, they sent us information in March that a conciliator was coming to meet us,” the investor said. “Since then,” he adds “nothing has been said. People invested millions, of which some borrowed to do so. Some bought shares with Glomo Money. We’re only left with our wounds to lick,” laments the investor. “We’re told the company has filed for bankruptcy and so we can do nothing about it,” he added.

We spoke to the Chief Executive Officer, CEO of GTI Investment Mr. Asong Henry about the allegations on him and the company. He debunked the claims of fraud, saying “GTI Investment is a legal company. We are one of the first Cameroonian known Banks to have an investment license, and this license gives us the multi-capacity to be able to work at the level of the financial market,” he said. According to the CEO, GTI Investment’s license covers the whole CEMAC sub-region.

Reacting to the allegations, Mr. Asong Henry said “the allegations are coming from a group of individuals who have decided to sabotage the company because all that they are saying is not true…”

He claimed, “most of these people have nothing to do with GTI Investment, it is pure sabotage.”

Mr. Asong Henry said GTI Investment lastly paid dividends to its investors in March 2020. He also revealed that the company’s investors were invited and spoken to about the situation of the company.
“We explained to them 2 particular reasons that affected the company. Firstly the war in NOSO became very tense and 13 of our branches in the North West became grounded…these are the things that are affecting the company and we communicated it with our investors and they are satisfied,” he said.

“The ones that are dissatisfied,” he added “are the ones who probably have taken loans from the company and have not paid back, because I still want to believe that those that are sabotaging the company are not investors of the company because all investors of the company know the state of affairs,” he reiterated.

The CEO also told us that unlike what disgruntled investors have said, GTI Investment never promised a fixed percentage on profit for Investment.

“We told them in the contract we will be paying you a particular percentage depending on the market returns. We have never promised that we are going to pay people regularly… The financial market fluctuates. There is nothing as fixed dividends,” he explained. “The financial market has its ups and downs, and when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, it affected the financial market greatly and we informed them,” he elaborated.

Mr. Asong Henry equally said that a conciliatory agreement has already been signed with all of the company’s investors agreeing on when they will be paid.

“Crisis in the financial market is no new thing, our enemies should not use that to sabotage us,” Mr. Asong Henry lashed out.

The CEO revealed that the company has also issued out loans of over 800 Million FCFA to its investors, of which 90% of it has not been paid yet. He said the company was going to undertake a “forceful recovery of these loans, and within 24 months we will start paying back the Investors,” he assured.


(C) Mimi Mefo Info