Menzgold saga: Client petitions eight institutions over locked up cash

An aggrieved client of Menzgold, Roger Knauf has petitioned the Attorney General, The President’s Office, CID Headquarters, Interpol (Ghana), The Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), Financial Intelligence Center, Bank of Ghana, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Registrar General’s Department over locked up cash.

According to the statement sent by Lawyer Amanda Clinton of Clinton, Amoo Lamptey, Barnsbury Chambers, lawyers of the client, Nana Appiah Mensah is believed to have relocated to South Africa.

“We have it on good authority that Mr. Nana Appiah Mensah has flown on his private jet with his family to South Africa as this incident with his companies Menzgold Ghana Ltd/ Brew Marketing Consult Ltd worsens. We have also heard rumors that he may have returned briefly in order to liquidate assets” the statement read.

The client through his lawyers asked the Attorney General to work in conjunction with all other state institutions to bring Nana Appiah Mensah before the law.

“We humbly request that the Attorney General’s department works with all government departments included The President’s Office; CID Headquarters; Interpol (Ghana); EOCO; Financial Intelligence Center; Bank of Ghana; Securities and Exchange Commission and the Registrar General’s Department as well as our office so a coordinated attempt can be made to preserve Menzgold Ghana Ltd/Brew Marketing Consult Ltd’s assets; claw back money taken from Ghana; trace monies removed from the accounts in cash and coordinate with Interpol globally to claw back any remaining investors monies even whilst the criminal investigation is being conducted since this is standard protocol globally and in high profile public interest cases in Ghana”.

The statement also requested the presidency to engage Interpol offices throughout the world of Menzgold’s financial dealings.

“We also ask that your office determine whether Interpol (Ghana) should notify all Interpol offices throughout the world of the financial activities of Menzgold Ghana Ltd/ Brew Marketing Consult Ltd, and determine if Mr. Nana Appiah Mensah has landed in their country (his private jet’s flight manifest will confirm this”.

Although Menzgold Ghana Ltd has told the public that they are unable to pay their customers matured dividends on all gold investments due to the recent action taken against them by the SEC, the SEC did not agree with Menzgold Ghana Ltd. The SEC are of the view that their action did not stop Menzgold Ghana Ltd from paying customers returns on existing investments.

Furthermore, a pending case in court against the SEC by Menzgold Ghana Ltd does not prevent the gold dealership firm from paying back investors since this is not a matter of the court determining whether its a fraudulent matter (although the court may well find that fraud exists) but a matter of clear breach of the

investors’ agreements.

All major corporate bank accounts have allegedly been depleted since accounts have not been frozen; senior officers of the company have not been prevented from travelling or told to return contrary to recent reports; assets have not been earmarked to prevent dissipation and an unprecedented level of protection appears to have been provided to Nana Appiah Mensah.

According to the representative of the clients, "We have been engaged by some members of a group known as the ‘Aggrieved customers of Menzgold’ who told us of their plan to ensure that should they not be paid their investments by Menzgold Ghana Ltd/Brew Marketing Consult and associated matrixed companies, they plan to hold the government accountable in the next election in a similar

manner to DKM microfinance debacle where NDC fulfilled its 2016 election campaign by settling the deposits of the collapsed micro-finance firm, DKM. We have however told them to have full confidence in our office.

Our office can only do so much to help these aggrieved customers and we rely on your office and government to secure these monies. We will be submitting our clients list so they can be paid when investor monies are secured from the government.

Background

Some angry customers of Menzgold hit the streets on November 27 to protest over their monies which have been locked after Menzgold was ordered to stop its operations.

The entity has been in hot waters for the past few months after the Bank of Ghana and the Security and Exchange Commission asked them to suspend its operations as they did not have a valid license.



Since then, Menzgold have had difficulties in paying its numerous aggrieved customers the value on their gold deposits as well as their entire investments.