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.