General News of Thursday, 11 October 2018
Source: citinewsroom.com
2018-10-11
Nana Appiah Mensah, Chief Executive Officer Menzgold Ghana Company Limited
A group calling itself ‘Aggrieved Customers of gold dealership company, Menzgold, has given the company a four-week ultimatum to pay 50% principal investments of all customers.
The group made this known at a press conference to drum home their demands following the refusal of the company to honor contract obligations of paying them their investment returns.
The press conference was in response to several statements from Menzgold since the impasse between the gold dealership company and the SEC began. The company has recently hinted of its plan to make payment of the principal investment of all customers within three months.
General Secretary of the aggrieved customers of Menzgold, Kenneth Nimoh, gave a four-week ultimatum for the company to provide 50% of the principal investment of customers.
“We do not subscribe to the prolonged period of 90 days stated in Menzgold communication as the company has not adhered to timelines in the past periods. We are even more concerned that this is nothing more than the time-bound strategy as the company in these past few weeks has rebranded its official vehicles, laid off staff, and it is likely to vacate their offices in the coming weeks.
“We recognize the difficulty Menzgold faces should it attempt to pay all customers at a go. Members of aggrieved traders of Menzgold are therefore giving them four weeks per their stipulated time to pay 50% of the total value of gold traded to customers and pay the rest of the remaining amount when the 90 days are due.”
The customers also disagreed with the company’s decision to make the payment via their accounts.
“They have promised us that we should go to our various branches and right from day one nothing has been done about it. If they say we should go and they will send money into our accounts, we do not believe that it will happen,” an aggrieved customer said.
Menzgold has not been able to pay matured returns to its investors since the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC) ordered it to suspend its gold trading operations to the public.
The company in an attempt to call the bluff of SEC came up with a payment schedule to pay its clients, but the said payments have been postponed for three consecutive times.
The delayed payments continue to stir up anger among Menzgold customers, as they have vowed to use every means possible to retrieve their investments.
‘We may pay in 90-days if you terminate your transaction’ – Menzgold
Menzgold had earlier indicated in a statement that customers who wish to terminate their investment transaction with the company will receive a full payment of their investment in 90 days if the ongoing misunderstanding with statutory institutions is resolved.
“Should Menzgold succeed in reaching an amicable resolution with the authorities, customers wishing to continue trading with Menzgold are free to exercise the option of continuing to trade with us. Similarly, customers wishing to terminate their business with Menzgold are free to do so and should be rest assured of their full payment in 90-days as stipulated…” the statement said.
We can’t pay dividends due to SEC’s action – Menzgold
Menzgold had earlier said it was unable to pay its customers matured dividends on their gold investments due to the action that was taken against it by the SEC.
“The gold collectibles offered for trade by patrons of our gold vault market product are subject to our quality controls and traded for profit which is shared as an extra value with the product owner or trader. Any act, order or instruction, therefore, designed or decreed to forbid Menzgold from trading makes it impossible to generate any revenue whatsoever out of which extra values are charged and paid to those entitled,” Menzgold said in a statement dated September 25, 2018.
But the SEC did not agree with Menzgold’s position, saying its action did not stop them from paying customers returns on existing investments.
Meanwhile, the SEC has indicated that it is yet to receive adequate information from Menzgold after it ordered the suspension of its gold trading business.
Menzgold has sued the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Ghana.
The company in its suit is seeking from the court an order directing the two institutions to stop interfering in its business.
They are also asking the court to stop the Bank of Ghana and the SEC from publishing what they have described as “derogatory notices” against their business.
‘We’ll settle you completely, be patient – Menzgold Boss
The Chief Executive of the company, Nana Appiah, had a few days ago assured that they were preparing to release all locked up cash.
In a late night message on Twitter, however, Nana Appiah urged his clients to exercise some restraint for the protection of his business.
“I humbly urge all Menzgold clients to kindly remain calm, as we prepare to COMPLETELY SETTLE all entitlements of any magnitude soon. We’ve got brands & names to protect.”