Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has parried an attempt by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to link President Akufo-Addo and some top government officials to the Menzgold Ghana Limited scandal that is unraveling.
In a statement issued yesterday in Accra, the Information Ministry said: “On no occasion has President Akufo-Addo endorsed the operations of Menzgold or its directors. Government has also not aided the operations of the company, as is being bandied about by officials and members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).”
It said the NDC was making shameful attempts to take advantage of the pain and loss of victims, which smacked of political desperation.
“Indeed, suggestions that all public figures who have been sighted in photographs with officials of the company are complicit in the company’s dealings are laughable, and underline the insensitivity of such political actors to the ongoing situation.”
The opposition NDC has been trying in recent times to link government to the beleaguered Menzgold business, but it has come out to debunk such claims.
“It cannot be said that traditional, religious, entertainment, business and political figures, who took photographs with officials of the company are complicit in their operations and the alleged fraud perpetuated on customers. Such suggestions reduce the serious misfortune of customers to cheap ridicule and are distasteful.”
Nervousness
“Attempts by leading members of the opposition NDC to claim that the company commenced its operations in 2017 and thus, the current administration ought to be blamed for the misfortune only expose the desperation of the opposition party.
“MenzGold, for the records, began its operations as far back as 2013 in the era of President John Dramani Mahama.”
It said Menzgold was not licensed by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) or Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its operations were not regulated by the two.
“However, such warning was made as far back as April 2016, and unfortunately was disregarded by many customers of Menzgold.
Education
“In the case of banks and specialized deposit taking institutions, as well as asset management companies licensed and regulated by BOG and SEC, the regulators had the legal mandate to intervene in their matters in accordance with law.
DKM, for example, was licensed by BoG, the reason why it helped retrieve and restore the monies of depositors. Menzgold was, however, registered and also operated as a trading company.”
Go To Court
The Ministry disclosed that customers whose contractual obligations had not been met by the company are entitled to seek legal remedy to retrieve their funds paid to the company ostensibly to invest and buy gold.
“Some customers have exercised that legal mandate and have either filed writs in the courts to retrieve their monies or reported the company and its directors to the security agencies on the suspicion of defrauding by false pretenses.”
“The Ghana Police Service has subsequently issued an arrest warrant pursuant to such reports, and has, accordingly, informed Interpol to assist in the search for and arrest of Nana Appiah Mensah and two others to help in police investigations. We encourage aggrieved customers to join such actions.”
Nana Addo’s picture with NAM1
“It must also be put on record that President Akufo-Addo has never endorsed the company, its officials or its operations. Indeed, the President has never posted any tweet on his official Twitter handle expressing his admiration for the “success story” of Nana Appiah Mensah. It’s also important to debunk the NDC’s use of a photograph taken at Jubilee House where Nana Appiah Mensah is seen.
“In that photograph, officials of the GFA and CAF, including its President, Ahmad Ahmad, paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo on 25th April, 2018, a day before the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), was to confer an honorary doctorate degree on the CAF President. The then GFA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi, invited Nana Appiah Mensah to that meeting because his company, Zylofon, on the 21st of April, 2018, four days before the meeting, had signaled its intention to sponsor the Ghana Premier League.
“The President never had a one-on-one meeting with Nana Appiah Mensah as the NDC would want Ghanaians to believe. Again, the company and its officials have never been part of any government delegation accompanying the President on any presidential visit. Speculations that the company acquired 85% of its clients in the last 24 months are also an obviously cheap attempt to link government to a very unfortunate situation.
“It must be put on record that the regulators of Ghana’s financial services sector, namely the BoG and the SEC had, on numerous occasions over the years, warned customers of Menzgold to desist from investing monies in the company, as it was not a licensed deposit or asset management company.
In all of such instances, the company and some of its customers, responded with explanations that they were not in the business of deposit or asset taking, but were rather a gold trading firm.
State not responsible
“While government sympathizes with customers on the difficulties encountered in their transactions with Menzgold, the state cannot and will not resort to the use of taxpayer’s monies to refund monies of customers,” the Ministry added.
BY Samuel Boadi