An Accra Circuit Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of embattled founder of Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah.
He has been accused of the offense of defrauding by false pretense contrary to section 131 of Act 29/60.
Two other individuals, Benedicta Appiah and Rose Tetteh, are also to be arrested by the police.
Appiah Mensah was reportedly arrested earlier, but absconded while on bail.
This was a claim by private legal practitioner, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, who’s a known figure in the governing New Patriotic Party.
This comes on the back of demonstration in Kumasi on Tuesday by some Menzgold customers.
Menzgold’s challenges
In 2018, over two hundred customers of Menzgold customers besieged the premises of the company’s head office at Dzorwulu to demand payment of their locked up investments.
On December 19, some 100 retired and active Police Officers at the Kasoa Divisional Police Command in the Central Region also filed a writ at the Accra High Court against the company.
Menzgold was asked to suspend its gold trading operations with the public by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the SEC, Menzgold had 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 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.
Call for government’s intervention
A lot of Ghanaians had called for government’s intervention in dealing with Menzgold’s founder who has failed to pay back monies to his customers.
The lawyer for some aggrieved customers of Menzgold Ghana Company Limited, Amanda Clinton, says the company will be hit with a lawsuit for breach of contract.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mrs. Clinton said her clients will soon be in court to “file applications of breach of contract.”
Multiple warnings
Menzgold Ghana Limited was in 2017 cautioned against its persistent sale of gold to unauthorized persons.
The Minerals Commission in a letter to the company also gave it 10 days to correct its “misrepresentations” in the media concerning its operations and license.
The company, in 2018 courted controversy over its operations, which the company claimed was licensed solely to buy gold in Ghana and export to other countries.
However, the Minerals Commission observed that the company was misinterpreting the authority granted it by its license by selling gold to the general public who are not licensed to buy gold.
The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) subsequently invited the Chief Executive Officer Menzgold Ghana Company Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah for questioning.
The development followed public notice by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) indicating that it was moving against Menzgold, which is suspected to be carrying out unlawful transactions by taking deposits.
CEO retreats; apologises for mocking BoG
Nana Appiah Mensah, apologized to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for mocking its warning to the company over perceived unlawful operations.
In a post on Social Media, Nana Appiah Mensah said Menzgold was cooperating with the BoG and other state agencies.
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By: citinewsroom.com | Ghana
