Over two hundred customers of gold dealership firm, Menzgold besieged the premises of the company’s head office at Dzorwulu on Monday morning to demand payment of their locked up investments.
The demonstration which is one of many to have been staged in recent months against the company, is as a result of the failure of Menzgold to pay customers their principal investments.
[contextly_sidebar id=”lQQYkCmmfbiKAkglhgdZR2D1OlSWZLDE”]Some of the customers who spoke to Citi News’ Pearl Akanya Ofori who expressed their frustration with the company.
They threatened to stage further protests at the premises of the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“We will continue to pursue every means in order to get our money. It is not going to be a one day thing. SEC should be expecting us, BoG should be expecting us. We will surely come to their place and the Presidency because all of them have neglected us,” an aggrieved customer said.
Meanwhile, in the Ashanti region, a group calling itself the Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of Menzgold, has also resolved to hold a series of protests to compel the government to intervene in their current situation.
“We are going to protest until we get our money from Menzgold, we are starting from today, there is going to be frequent demonstration all over the nation, because we believe that the only language that our leaders understand is demonstration, and those we beat the war drums, must prepare to dance with the warrior, now we have had enough of government and SEC calling us greedy people,” Public Relations Officer for the group, Baffour Mensah told journalists in Kumasi.
On the December 19, some 100 retired and active Police Officers at the Kasoa Divisional Police Command in the Central Region have filed a writ at the Accra High Court against Gold dealership Company Menzgold, in a bid to retrieve their locked up investments.
The leader of the group, Samson Addai, blamed government for their woes because it failed to regulate the activities of the company.
“Government said we are too greedy because we were not diligent enough and invested our money there. If government says Menzgold does not have the license to operate, then the CEO should be arrested so he pays us.”
“We don’t want to take the law into our hands, that is why we have engaged a lawyer to retrieve our money for us. So, we have filed a write at the Accra High Court to demand our money. We are not saying government should pay, but rather it should force Menzgold to give us our cash”, he added.
Pastor sues Menzgold over delayed payments
This is not the first suit against the company. In October 2018, a customer sued the firm for breach of contract and misrepresentation.
The customer, who’s a Reverend Minister, is demanding the payment of his accrued interest and GHC 24,000 principal investments which he allegedly deposited with Menzgold on April 20, 2018. Rev. Joseph Appiah Odei in his writ said he deposited 12 pounds of gold estimated at Ghc24,000 for 12 months and paid a non-refundable commission of Ghc1,200 to Menzgold.
Background
Menzgold was asked to suspend its gold trading operations with the public by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the SEC, Menzgold has been dealing in the purchase and deposit of gold collectables from the public and issuing contracts with guaranteed returns with clients, without a valid license from the Commission.
This, the SEC said this was in contravention of “section 109 of Act 929 with consequences under section 2016 (I) of the same Act.”
The company was however cleared to continue its “other businesses of assaying, purchasing gold from small-scale miners and export of gold.”
Despite initial protests, Menzgold complied with the directive. It has however failed to fully pay its numerous aggrieved customers the value on their gold deposits as well as their entire investments.
–
By: Farida Yusif | citinewsroom.com | Ghana
