Menzgold customers use Akufo-Addo to recover blocked funds

Customers injured Menzgold Ghana, whose investments have been immobilized in the company, has turned to the Nana Addo Dankwa President Akufo-Addo and other state institutions to help them recover their fortune..

Sure 1.8 million customers are frustrated by the company's inability to repay the invested capital.

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Tuesday, hundreds of customers, who have come together in a group called Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of Menzgold, took to the streets to empty the spleen of the company.

Demo

The two-hour demonstration began at 9:30 am from the Obra point of the Kwame Nkrumah interchange, from which the protesters went to Farisco on Ferrar Avenue and heading to the Trade Union Congress Area (TUC) before converging on the Accra Hearts of Oak Park, where they presented petitions to the President, the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the Parliament and the Committee on Security and Trade (SEC)).

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During the orderly and peaceful march, the protesters sang patriotic songs and issued invectives to the chief executive of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, and the management of the company.

They carried placards some of which bore: "Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM), pay our money or wrong to be you borborliborbor"," We are investors, not greedy "," BoG, help us recover our money "," More than three months of hunger are not a joke ".

Some of the protesters who spoke to the Daily Graphic pointed out that they would stop at nothing to make sure to recover their investments.

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The organizer of the event, Mr Denis Brown Atisu, for example, said that yesterday's protest was only the visible part of the iceberg because the injured customers would continue to to embark on a number of lawful actions to recover their investments.

"Today, we have people from the West, Central, Brong Ahafo, Ashanti and other parts of the country who are joining this demonstration. that as long as we do not have our money, we will continue to act.

"I have personally invested 100,000 GH ¢ in the last six months and I can not sit back and waste my money, we want the Bank of Ghana, the President, Parliament and all those who matter. , act for us, because we are only investors, so if the entity to which we entrusted our investment does not operate legally, it is not enough to close down operations without helping us recover our money " , did he declare.

In the petition, they called for the intervention of the President, the BoG, the Parliament and the SEC to compel the entity that sells gold to pay its stuck money.

Petition received

Dr. Benjamin Amoah, advisor to the governor of the Bank of Ghana, received the petition on behalf of the governor, with the protesters of the protesters that the central bank, in collaboration with other agencies of the Bank of Ghana. State would take the necessary measures to remedy the situation. problem.

Mr. Kofi Ohene Benning, Deputy Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Information, representing the Minister of Information, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, received the petition on behalf of the President.

He badured the aggrieved clients that the petition would be given to the Minister for transmission to the President.

Highlights of the petition

A copy of the petition made available to the Daily Graphic urged the President, Parliament and other renowned public institutions to act quickly so that: Menzgold Ghana has fully reimbursed its principal investment to all its clients in three months.

"We want Menzgold establish the appropriate payment schedule that clearly indicates when payments will be made to clients during the 90-day period.

"We also ask the CEO to Menzgold be ordered, under your authority, to pay us our hard-earned investments, "he added.

Clients said they lost confidence in Menzgold Ghana's commitment to pay their investments because the company has not managed to fill an agreement that was reached after two critical stakeholder meetings.

They stated that the first meeting took place on October 7, 2018, during which the company and the customers had agreed that there would be no payment for additional securities, but that they would be repaid their principal gold values ​​negotiated with the company.

According to the petition, the company agreed and offered to return to each customer the total value of the gold negotiated within 90 days, as of October 9 of this year.

No payment

At the Third Capital Market Conference and 20th anniversary Commemorating the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, November 21, 2018, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the government had no legal obligation to pay the people whose money was owed. money had been blocked. in Menzgold.

Mr. Ofori-Atta explained that some of those affected were staff members of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the Ministry of Finance, the army and other reputed institutions of the country. country.

Mr. Ofori-Atta stated that the company did not have any license to operate.

He said that although the issue is troubling, the government was not obligated to investors in the gold dealership, which offered up to 120% profit per year.

Context

On September 12, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directed Menzgold Ghana Limited to cease investing with immediate effect for breach of the Securities Industry Act, 2016 (Act 929).

The SEC order also enjoined Menzgold to stop advertising its investment activities and not to create new contracts with depositors.

According to a letter to the Menzgold The investigation conducted by the regulatory authority, Nana Appiah Mensah, CEO, revealed that Menzgold's activities, consisting of buying / depositing gold by the public and contracts with clients guaranteeing guaranteed returns, was a capital market activity that could not be conducted without a valid license issued by the SEC.

The letter dated Sept. 7, signed by Paul Ababio, Deputy Director General of the SEC, warned that the failure of Menzgold complying with the directive would lead the SEC to resort to other relevant measures provided by law to enforce the rules.