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.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”IX0VWYAx1qZjzqIZfhEt85TqnLX4jeXP”]Citi News had earlier sighted a December 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) letter to the lawyer in response to fears the Chief Executive Officer Menzgold Ghana Company Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah, had absconded to South Africa.
The SEC has been unable to act on the matter because Menzgold is in court challenging regulator’s jurisdiction.
The legal wrangling notwithstanding, Mrs. Clinton said she was only trying to safeguard the funds of about 1.8 million Ghanaians affected by the Menzgold debacle.
“What is reality however is that 1.8 million Ghanaians affected in the last five years in the region of $200 million invested in an unregulated company… the reality of the situation is that people just want their money.”
She said the 1.8 million figure she cited was gotten from unnamed sources within certain government departments.
Call for government action
Mrs. Clinton said she was also concerned with the lack of action from the state on the matter.
She felt the posturing from the state was at odds with the handling of the scandal that enveloped Ghana football in 2018 when she served as the lawyer for the Ghana Football Association (GFA).
“Assets were locked up in terms of bank accounts, properties were earmarked, people were prevented from travelling in the GFA case,” she recalled.
“You can’t take $200 million of people’s money, and nobody even arrests you or questions you or feel a need to,” the lawyer added.
Mrs. Clinton added that “at least the President should trigger the Attorney General to trigger CID to trigger Interpol to notify people that Ghanaians have taken $200 million and we don’t know what has happened to it.”
SEC’s fight with Menzgold
In the SEC letter to Mrs Clinton, the commission said it had been holding meetings with the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) “on potential criminal aspects of this matter.”
A formal criminal complaint has also been filed at EOCO by the SEC.
“We shall work together with the other parties addressed in your letter within the parameters of our jurisdiction contained in the securities industry Act, 2016 (Act 929) on this matter,” the letter said.
On September 12, 2018, the SEC first told Menzgold to stop gold trading operations with the public.
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.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa | citinewsroom.com | Ghana
