Police in Accra, yesterday arrested over 100 customers of nonoperational gold dealership firm, Menzgold Ghana Limited who thronged the plush Trasacco residence of the company’s CEO, Nana Appiah Mensah, to demand their locked up cash.
The customers who had converged at the venue, mainly from Kumasi, Takoradi and Accra were seen carrying placards critical of Menzgold and threatening to forcibly break into the luxurious home of the beleaguered CEO.
Having stepped in to evacuate the area, the Police explained that “We all know that we live in a democratic country with rules, regulations and laws. We have a public order law and the spirit and letter of that law mandate every citizen to inform the police with any intention to demonstrate”.
“Police have not been informed and looking at this environment, it is an estate meant for several people and for these group of persons to invade the premises, assaulting the security detail and having forcefully entered the place to carry out such an illegal exercise definitely has something to do with the police,” the Accra Regional Police Operations Commander, ACP Kwasi Ofori said.
But prior to the arrival of the police, two warning shots were fired from the house.
The action by the group comes not long after reports that Management of the company had announced that it will from Friday, December 27, 2019, begin paying the customers their locked-up funds which have been in arrears for the past three years.
However, this promise according to the angry customers yielded no positive results.
Speaking to the media the customers who say the action has become necessary due to the uncertainties regarding the payment schedule put out by the company vowed not to leave the place if Nana Appiah Mensah fails to meet them.
“Today, if Nana Appiah doesn’t pay me, I will not leave here. I am going to spend 365 days here until I get my money. I will spend all the days here. I am not going anywhere. I need my money,” an angry customer fumed.
“We are here to collect our monies. That is why we are here. We are not here to damage anything or to harass anybody. We are here peacefully for our invested monies. That is the reason we are here,” another customer stated.
Since the collapse in 2018 of the troubled gold dealership company, Menzgold Ghana Limited, following a suspension order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) it has been struggling to reimburse its customers for their losses.
Meanwhile, Mr Fred Forson, spokesperson of the Coalition of Aggrieved Menzgold Customers, said they were ready to go all lengths to get their investments back from the gold dealership firm.He pleaded with the Ghana Police Service to understand their plight as they had lost their investments and were going through much suffering.
He said the payment plan presented by the CEO was discriminatory and had many inaccuracies, adding that their concerns to NAM1 had been ignored.
“We will all match to wherever we can find him; just as the star led the three wisemen, we shall also be led to find him and take our monies,” he said.
