Government’s position on Menzgold saga shady – Amanda Clinton
Lawyer for aggrieved customers of embattled Menzgold Trading firm, Amanda Clinton has questioned government’s reluctance to halt the services of the gold trading firm in the initial years before they became full blown with over 50,000 clients.
Read full articleMadam Clinton indicated that having received all the indications and red flags after investigations from bodies such as Securities and Exchange Commission, Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Central Bank, Bank of Ghana, it was only prudent for the government to curtail the operations of the now fraudulent scheme instead of looking on for it to grow drastically
Citing a letter she wrote to the Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2018 notifying them of the absconding of the Menzgold Boss, the lawyer revealed that the institution stated that they had referred all investigations and findings to EOCO but did not have the capacity to prosecute since it was the duty of the Attorney General.
“… on the one hand it is for government to ensure that taxpayers money is not given to investors who were advised otherwise, on the other hand Menzgold should have been shut down within the first few weeks of operations…
Government’s delay in shutting them down through the SEC or other departments meant that in the first year of deposit taking, people wouldn’t have even put in more than 200 Ghana cedis at the time. By the 5th year there was such confidence in 10 percent returns; they were putting in 1million dollars, 6 million dollars, and government does have the position of protecting the public from that because the longer you kept the operations open the longer that happened.” She explained.
She turned the heat on the Central Bank bemoaning that the best resolve was to shutdown the company immediately they were found to be culpable, rather than just issuing warnings.
“…government stopped operations a few months ago through the SEC with Menzgold and they should’ve done this way before people were pumping up to 200 million Ghana Cedis in an unregulated company within our shores.
The Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department DCOP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah says her outfit has alerted Interpol to arrest Nana Appiah Mensah after reports that the latter has absconded.
