Convener
of Menzgold Customers, Fred Forson, has disclosed that following the collapse
of the company, 179 of the customers have died.
According
to him, many others have also suffered various ailments.
“It’s sad
that we have lost some
people and 179 people have already died and many others are down with various
degrees of injury,” he said on the Super Morning
Show on Joy FM on
Tuesday.
The
aggrieved customers have been fighting to retrieve their investments since 2018
when the firm was shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In a letter
dated September 7, 2018, SEC said it has thoroughly investigated the activities
of Menzgold and has found that the Nana Appiah Mensah-owned firm does not have
the license to trade in gold collectibles from the public.
Since
then, all efforts by the customers to retrieve their investments have proven
futile.
They have
accused the government of Ghana of failing to protect funds of the investors, a
development that continues to deepen their hopelessness by the day, however,
they are optimistic their funds will be retrieved.
“The money
is not lost but it is sad we lost all those people,” the convenor of the group
bemoaned.
Background
Nearly
three years ago, the Attorney-General commenced the prosecution of Menzgold’s
Chief Executive Officer, Nana Appiah Mensah.
He is
accused of defrauding thousands of customers through his gold dealership firm
over millions of cedis.
Yet not a
single ‘victim’ has testified in the case, which has witnessed more than 20
adjournments.
Meanwhile,
some sources within the A-G’s office say there are aspects of the case that
require fine-tuning, hence, the delay.
The
Customers are calling for the prosecution of the founder of the firm, NAM 1, to
be suspended.
They want
the case to be made a civil one, instead of a criminal case; to enable them to
lead the prosecution themselves.
They are of
the view this will fast-track the process of retrieving their monies.
Source: myjoyonline