Menzgold boss to honour EOCO invitation next week

The Chief Executive of MezGold Company Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah will next week Friday honour an invitation by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the company has said.

EOCO invited Nana Appiah Mensah following concerns by the Central Bank over the operations of the company.

Speaking to Adom News, a source close to the gold trading firm discounted earlier reports suggesting their Boss had refused to honour past invitations by the EOCO.

“The board chairman, Lawyer Fred Frimpong has met the EOCO Boss a couple of times in the last couple of days, therefore [it is] untrue that MenzGold officials are running away from EOCO,” the source said.

“There are records to show that one Nana Ofei an official of MenzGold had been to EOCO not less than four times to meet with the Deputy EOCO Boss upon their invitation,” the source added.

The EOCO action comes after the Bank of Ghana issued a fresh caution to the public against dealing with Menzgold, which the central bank said had not been licensed to trade in the business.

Nana Appiah Mensah is CEO of MenzGold Company Limited

Background

According to the central bank, Menzgold has no authority to engage in the solicitation, receipt of money or investments and the payment of dividends or returns to its clients which is captured in Section 6 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).

In a statement issued a day after the BoG notice, Menzgold maintained that they are a law-abiding company “working within the remits of our license.”

“We hereby state emphatically that we DO NOT accept deposits from customers or carry on a deposit-taking business in Ghana. Our activities are not within the scope of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions, Act 2016, Act 930. It, therefore, CANNOT be said that we are in breach of the Act,” the statement read in part.

The back and forth confrontation between the firm and the regulator has, however, caught the attention of the investigating authority, which has invited CEO of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, for questioning.