The government’s position on the Menzgold saga still remains the same, as the government has stated it times without number that, they ‘will not and cannot refund monies owed by Menzgold to their customers.
A statement signed by the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the customers since April 2016 ignored several warnings by the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission not to do business with Menzgold.
According to government, even though it sympathises with misfortune of the customers, it will only ensure that CEO of the troubled gold firm Nana Appiah Mensah is arrested and prosecuted according to the laws of the country.
“Menzgold was not licensed by BoG or SEC and its operations were not regulated by BoG or SEC. This warning was made as far back as April 2016, and, unfortunately, was disregarded by many customers of Menzgold. BoG and SEC are, therefore, not clothed with any legal mandate to refund monies to clients”, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah stated in his submission.
Parts of the statement also reads, ” In the case of banks and specialized deposit taking institutions, as well as asset management companies licensed and regulated by BOG and SEC, owing to the fact that these companies were regulated by BoG and SEC, the regulators are clothed with the legal mandate to intervene in their matters, in accordance with law. DKM, for example, was licensed by the BoG, the reason for which it stepped in to help retrieve the monies of depositors. In the case of Menzgold, it operated as a trading company and falls outside the scope of the regulators’ intervention”.