Ponzi pyramid kings

Since our nation’s independence in 1957, not a single person in this country has been successfully prosecuted in Ghana for a ponzi/pyramid fraud and this fact has been confirmed by major agencies during talks regarding the phenomena in Ghana.

Having grown up in a somewhat middle-class home, I am by no means naïve as to the traditional view of money and how it works. The strongest in society hold onto it and those who are perceived weak and let go of it and cannot blame anyone but themselves if they lose it; they may learn a lesson. Survival of the fittest, darwinism at its best!

However, as someone who had the advantage of being at a set of criminal chambers in London before relocating back to Ghana for almost 4 years to work at the Attorney General’s department in Accra; I learnt a bit about criminals and how they work and get caught.

I worked closely with law enforcement and understood quickly the process of spotting the habits of criminals with long-term strategies including:-

1. Make it look good

2. Get the early investments in to attract the bigger investments and then crash the system

3. Network, seem larger than life and if possible legitimize

4. Hide your money in cryptocurrencies if possible since its untraceable

5. Shroud the con in mystery, secrecy, protection at the highest level and have a get-away at all costs

6. Never attach yourself longer than you need to, always having a get-away bag and flight if necessary at any given time with 30 minutes notice

7. Guard your reputation with your life and feign ignorance, confuse the masses, seem more intelligent than you are and always remember- it’s a con!

Sounds familiar? Nana Appiah Mensah of Menzgold perhaps! facing one of the largest criminal trials in our nation’s history and yet as free as a bird in Ghana with bail money the investors can’t touch.

If a lawyer or a doctor starts practicing without a license, the General Legal Council and Ghana Medical Association does not leave them open for 5 years and keeps sending them letters and warnings and then goes to purchase their service during ‘mystery shopping’ knowing full well they are not licensed; they shut it down before financial bloodshed in the public domain.

As I mentioned, I know how money works; hold onto it or risk losing it! I however also know how the law works or is supposed to work yet those who pursue criminals instead become targets themselves as criminals remain protected and the cries of the people go unanswered with no official response; labelled ‘greedy’ and financial assistance by the government cannot be given out to ‘419’ schemes if a person falls for it. This is even if the government waited 5 years to shut down Menzgold which attracted the bigger customers in the 4th and 5th year.

As a trained professional, my profession tells me however that criminal are the bad guys and there is no grey area when you have so many victims and so much money involved with an operation that often got more deposits on a daily basis than the average bank in Ghana.

It will be interesting to see if anyone is held responsible directly or indirectly in Ghana for the Menzgold case that involves: Investment fraud, money laundering, securities fraud, economic crime and mineral law offences.

Ultimately, this type of activity is something our agencies in Ghana need to get on top of at first instance instead of 5 years later when thousands of investors have invested. Otherwise, the unregulated financial sector will remain the best place to dupe thousands for 5 years at a time. Enough time for any Ponzi king to thrive, crash the system and stay free to tell the tale.