Customers of Menzgold Ghana Limited have demanded a withdrawal of the payment schedule published by the company.
This, the customers believe will help all stakeholders come to a consensus on the best way of paying them.
At a press conference on Monday to clarify their stance on the company’s payment schedule, the customers called on the management of Menzgold to pay all clients on December 27.
A spokesperson for the coalition of aggrieved customers of Menzgold, Francis Owusu at the press conference said:
“Menzgold should meet customers’ leadership and disclose the total number of validated customers and the cash at hand and pay all customers on 27th December. Pay the cash at hand to every customer who went through the validation so that every customer will receive a part of their principal investment before Christmas 2019.”
“[Menzgold must] draw a proper and transparent payment roadmap with customer leadership for the purpose of industrial peace. We shall reject any further united decision by Menzgold and our members have been put on standby. If Menzgold decides to go on that tangent, we will not sit down and perish while our monies are with them,” he said.
The embattled gold dealership firm had announced earlier that it will from Friday, December 27, 2019, begin paying customers their locked up funds which have been in arrears for the past three years.
The company since its collapse in 2018 following a suspension order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been struggling to refund monies invested by the customers.
A statement issued last week had the company explaining what it termed as a ‘reverse mechanism’ as the payment plan and formula to be used for the monies to be disbursed.
“Payments shall be made strictly following a ‘reverse mechanism’ which implies from the last day (month) of our business operations to the very day when our business commenced. Thus from 12th September 2019 to 18th March 2013. To this end, we shall start to settle all transactions in September 2019 and those who didn’t access extra values as we proceed in the first above described mode and manner.”
Management also assured that it is in the process of retrieving debts owed the company to shore up funds in other to pay its customers.
However, lawyers for Menzgold Ghana Limited have said they do not have the “capacity” to pay customers’ locked up cash.
Menzgold in its statement dated 18th December 2019 had instructed its lawyers to make payments to customers.
“Claims shall be settled in full and shall be subject to an invitation from our legal team: Kwame Akuffo & Co. Unlimited strictly following scheduled order,” the statement said.
The lawyers, however, said it will be unable to carry out such an instruction.
“We have informed the client that the firm does not have the “capacity” to carry out the said exercise. The firm is therefore unable to accept instructions in that regard. Under the circumstances, we have advised the client to instruct a third party entity to carry out the instructions in respect of the above-mentioned,” a statement from the lawyers said.
Meanwhile, the customers of the defunct firm have vowed to kick against any payment plan that fails to promise a 100% retrieval of their locked up investments.
A spokesperson for the customers, Fredrick Forson indicated that they will only rescind their decision if a meeting is scheduled between the management of the company and the customers.
A statement issued last week had the company explaining what it termed as a ‘reverse mechanism’ as the payment plan and formula to be used for the monies to be disbursed.
“Payments shall be made strictly following a ‘reverse mechanism’ which implies from the last day (month) of our business operations to the very day when our business commenced. Thus from 12th September 2019 to 18th March 2013. To this end, we shall start to settle all transactions in September 2019 and those who didn’t access extra values as we proceed in the first above described mode and manner.”
Management also assured that it is in the process of retrieving debts owed the company to shore up funds in other to pay its customers.
However, lawyers for Menzgold Ghana Limited have said they do not have the “capacity” to pay customers’ locked up cash.
Menzgold in its statement dated 18th December 2019 had instructed its lawyers to make payments to customers.
“Claims shall be settled in full and shall be subject to an invitation from our legal team: Kwame Akuffo & Co. Unlimited strictly following scheduled order,” the statement said.
The lawyers, however, said it will be unable to carry out such an instruction.
“We have informed the client that the firm does not have the “capacity” to carry out the said exercise. The firm is therefore unable to accept instructions in that regard. Under the circumstances, we have advised the client to instruct a third party entity to carry out the instructions in respect of the above-mentioned,” a statement from the lawyers said.
Meanwhile, the customers of the defunct firm have vowed to kick against any payment plan that fails to promise a 100% retrieval of their locked up investments.
A spokesperson for the customers, Fredrick Forson indicated that they will only rescind their decision if a meeting is scheduled between the management of the company and the customers.