The Chief Executive of the defunct Menzgold Gold Dealership, Nana Appiah Mensah, has expressed his objection to the comparison of his company with another defunct entity, DKM Micro-Finance Company.
According to Nana Appiah Mensah, the practice of equating the unfortunate financial situations and actual roles of the two companies overlooks the specific context that sets them apart.
DKM stands as a failed financial that left customers stranded in 2015 when its operations were suspended for violating the Banking Act.
The Bank of Ghana intervened to address the situation and compensate certain depositors.
Following the Menzgold saga, many aggrieved customers have urged the government to undertake a similar initiative.
However, Nana Appiah Mensah believes that such calls might be misleading.
Nana Appiah Mensah explained the fact that the two organisations were licensed by different regulators make the disparities clear.
“I have to really make this point. So the customers that are being misled. The difference between Menzgold and a DKM [is that] DKM was a financial institution licensed by our Central Bank. Menzgold is a commodities trading company so we are not licensed [by Central Bank] because we are not a financial institution. So if a DKM suffers operational upset, government can probably come in and decide to either mitigate or pay the customers or I don’t know what the standings orders are because I am not a finance person,” he said on Monday, August 21, 2023.
That is why the outcomes differ in terms of remedies available in the law.
Speaking in a conversation on X (formally Twitter) Spaces, Mr Mensah insisted that if government pays Menzgold clients, it could set a bad precedent and allow for potential exploitation of the state by any limited liability company.
For him, his defunct firm is taking steps to pay his customers for all sleeping dogs to lie.
“I do not expect government of Ghana to make any payment to any Menzgold customer. The reason being that, I will not want my aunty selling in some market, the taxes that she pays, government should commit those taxes to paying customers that I have had a business interaction with and probably there has been a debt situation. We need to be responsible and pay our debt and so we are going to pay our debt.
“As a private company. You have been cured in that situation. Why should government’s come home unless it has been determined that you are in contravention ABCD laws and then on the basis of that, they want to adjust the processes and pierce the veil and effect all those legal remedies that exist under our laws. That’s fine. I am speaking to my clients and my customers. If anybody is going to pay you, it is Menzgold.”
In the ongoing controversy, where victims are relentlessly seeking justice for their vanished investments, the Chief Executive Officer has portrayed himself as the foremost casualty of the entire debacle.
As the demands for accountability persist, NAM 1, has admitted to being the one bearing the brunt of the crisis’ fallout.
NAM 1’s assertion stems from the personal losses he claims to have incurred due to the downfall of Menzgold.
He emphasized that the company’s collapse has left him bereft of all possessions.
In the heated conversation on social media, he declared that “If you want to crown the biggest loser in all of this thing, I am the one, because I lost everything: I lost all my properties and I don’t even have a car of my own in this country.”