SEC rejects Menzgold customers’ request to be included in bailout
Menzgold clients had written to the Securities and Exchange Commission asking to be covered by the government’s bailout but their request has been turned down
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected a request by the Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of Menzgold Ghana (CACM) to be included in the government’s bailout package.
The bailout was established to pay out locked-up funds of depositors in collapsed financial institutions.
This was contained in a statement signed by Reverend Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, director general of the SEC.
“The target of the bailout is clearly defined and does not cover Menzgold customers,” Ogbarmey Tetteh said.
The bailout
Last week the SEC announced that it will commence to pay customers whose investments are locked up with defunct fund management companies before the end of the year.
This was in reference to the Commission’s revocation of licences for 22 fund management companies in November last year.
Customers of Menzgold, which also had its licence revoked in 2018, wrote to the SEC to request that they be added to the list of clients to benefit from the government’s bailout.
But responding to their letter, Reverend Ogbarmey Tetteh said Menzgold was not an asset management company under the SEC’s supervision. The company never registered formally with the SEC or held a licence to trade as a deposit-taking institution.
For this reason, he said, the Commission was unable to grant the request of the aggrieved customers of the defunct gold dealership.
“The SEC is implementing the bailout provided for in the Mid-Year Review of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana and supplementary estimate for the 2020 financial year. Section 239 of the Budget Statement approved by the Parliament was very specific,” the statement said.
Real-estate business
Meanwhile, Nana Appiah Mensah, chief executive of the defunct Menzgold, has been in and out of court since his company collapsed.
Although he is yet to refund all the monies his company owes clients whose investments are locked up, Nana Appiah has announced a new venture in real estate: Zylofon Hills.
In a Twitter post, Nana Appiah Mensah said he had acquired over 4,000 plots of land and that 500 residential parcels are reserved for Menzgold customers.
“12th Sept. 2018 in retrospect, we’re pained by the many losses we count. Refreshingly, we celebrate many successes,” he tweeted.
“We commemorate today with over 4,000 plots envisioned a new smart city coming up. As a goodwill gesture, 500 residential plots are reserved for Menzgold customers.”
The post has since gone viral, with a section of Ghanaians slamming the Menzgold CEO for even conceiving such an idea when most of his clients are yet to be paid their locked-up deposits.
E A Alanore
* Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online.
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
#asaaseradio #TVOL
