Director of Communication for Menzgold, Nii Armah Amartefio, insists that the company owes clients GHS200m, not GHS1.68bn.
Reports on Graphic Online after Nana Appiah Mensah appeared before the Accra Circuit Court indicated he was accused of defrauding one Francis Agodzie and 16,000 others of more than GHS1.68 billion.
Director of Communication for Menzgold, Nii Armah Amartefio, in an interview with Class FM on July 12, 2019, said the firm “is not in a position to doubt†what the website has quoted, but will nonetheless go with the figures released by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
Mr Amarteifio said after Mr Ofori-Atta met with some aggrieved military customers of Menzgold who had presented a petition to him over their locked-up funds, the Finance Minister “made it clear to them that per the books that they have seen so far, the amount we [Menzgold] are owing amounted to GHS200 million; that is about $40 million and I have checked with my boss, he has confirmed that to meâ€.
Mr Amartefio says, Menzgold is focused on paying the principals of its customers after winning a Dubai case in which the Gulf state ordered Horizon Diamonds to pay NAM1 some $39 million for gold supplied by Menzgold.
“We need to pay our customers and whatever we need to do we are going to do and that is what we are doing,†he assured the investors.
He, however, did not give any timelines for the payment but insisted they have an obligation to pay all customers.
Mr Amarteifio added that there are several other companies indebted to Menzgold and if the company succeeds in retrieving all those locked-up funds, the payment of the principals of all clients will not be an issue.
Meanwhile, NAM1 who arrived in Ghana on July 11, 2019, has been charged by the police and appeared in Court on July 12 but was remanded into police custody to reappear in the Accra Circuit Court on July 26, 2019.
He is facing charges of defrauding by false pretence and two counts of abetment to carry out a banking business without a licence contrary to Section 6 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).
His Brew Marketing Consult and Menzgold Ghana Limited have also been slapped with charges of defrauding by false pretence contrary to sections 20 (1) and 13 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
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