You can't blame us - Deputy BoG governor tells Menzgold customers

The 2nd deputy governor of Bank of Ghana, Elsie Awadzi, says customers whose monies are locked up at Menzgold “are on their own”.

According to her, the central bank cannot be blamed for the crisis, since it had earlier warned the public to desist from dealing with Menzgold.

Speaking to Joy News in Accra, Madam Awadzi said by issuing a warning, the BoG did its work and therefore there was nothing it could do for the aggrieved customers.

“The Bank of Ghana has been very clear, for a long while, about the fact that this was an unlicensed operation. We were not responsible for it, we warned the public at different points in time,” she said.

“We told everybody that if they continued to keep their money there, they did that at their own risk. That’s all I can say about it.”

Asked if the aggrieved customers of Menzgold were on their own, she answered: “As far as we concerned, we had issued enough warning and I think that we had done our work.”

Menzgold has been in the news in recent months following disagreements with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its operations.

Consequently, the company has halted its collectibles and all other new businesses related to its gold vault market, although it claims the move is temporary.

On Tuesday, there were fresh demonstrations in the Ashanti region, as some aggrieved customers of Menzgold hit the streets to register their displeasure.

Meanwhile, the demonstrating customers have pleaded with the government to intervene to get Menzgold to refund their investments.