You are not part of gov’t bailout – SEC tells Menzgold customers

The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declined a request by customers of Menzgold for the government to pay their locked-up funds.

Aggrieved clients of the defunct gold-dealership firm, who are members of the Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of Menzgold Ghana (CACM) petitioned SEC on September 2, to be included in a government bailout announced for clients of 53 defunct investment companies.

SEC, together with the Registrar General’s Departments would pay customers of 22 of the firms after a court granted an order to liquidate the companies.

However, SEC said in a letter dated September 9, that it cannot expand the beneficiaries to cover the Menzgold clients.

“The SEC has noted with concern the plight of customers of Menzgold due to the company’s failure to return client’s funds. Unfortunately, your request for inclusion cannot be acceded to because the target of the bailout is clearly defined and does not cover Menzgold customers,” the release signed by the Director-General of SEC, Reverend Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh stated.

It continued: “the SEC was implementing the bailout provided for in the Mid-Year Review of the Budget Statement and Economy Policy of the Government of Ghana and Supplementary Estimate for the 2020 Financial Year Section 239 of the Budget Statement approved by Parliament was very specific.”

SEC estimates close to 100,000 customers of collapsed investment companies with claims valued at GH¢10.83 billion.

Menzgold CEO under prosecution

The facts of the case, as presented by ASP Asare, were that in October 2018, the police received a complaint from about 16,000 people that Menzgold had convinced them to invest GH¢1.68 billion in a gold purchase scheme that yielded 10% monthly interest.

According to the prosecution, the complainants said their money were locked up and that they could not find Menzgold CEO, Nana Appiah Mensah and the other principal officers of the company.

The prosecutor said investigations revealed that Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult were incorporated as limited liability companies in 2013 and 2016, respectively.

Menzgold, he said, obtained a license from the Minerals Commission in August 2016 to purchase and export gold from small-scale miners, and that in order to successfully engage in the business, Nana Mensah founded Brew Marketing Consult to be a gold buying agent.

ASP Asare said although Menzgold was licensed to purchase gold, it was not licensed by the Minerals Commission to trade in gold.

Notwithstanding the lack of such a licence, he said, Menzgold went public after its incorporation and invited the public to deposit money for a fixed period with interest, on the pretext of gold purchasing.

The prosecutor said further investigations revealed that the three accused persons were the directors and principal officers of Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult.

Released

Meanwhile, Nana Appiah Mensah who was arrested and put before court was released from police custody on August 17, 2019, after meeting his revised bail conditions.

Earlier, the court had varied the bail conditions to allow for five sureties to guarantee his bail without showing evidence of having properties worth the GH¢1 billion bail sum.

The court, however, refused a request by counsel for Nana Appiah for a reduction in the bail sum from GH¢1 billion to GH¢20 million.

The court had ordered, on July 26, 2019, that three of the five sureties should show justification, meaning they must show proof that they had properties or interests worth the GH¢1 billion bail sum.

As part of the bail conditions, he is also to report to the Ghana Police Service every Wednesday.