Close to 200 customers of Menzgold Ghana Limited have received their locked-up funds.
According to the management of the collapsed gold dealership firm, these customers are the first batch to have been paid.
The company which has been struggling to make payment after it was shut down in 2018 promised to begin payment to customers from today [December 27, 2019] in spite of stiff opposition by some of the disgruntled clients.
In an interview with Citi News, however, Communications Director of Menzgold Ghana, Nii Armah Amarteifio expressed the company’s commitment to settle all outstanding debts.
“I can confirm to you that by the Grace of God today we commenced payment and we were able to pay two hundred people today. I will not give you a range but I can tell you for a fact that as we promised our customers that we will commence payment on the 27th December that is today, we have been able to do that and by the Grace of God we’ve been able to pay about two hundred people today, who fall in the zero category as we indicated in our press statement.”
“You will be called first; a call will be placed to you and you will be asked to confirm your bank account number if that is done, the money is transferred into your account; that is done by the third party. The most important thing is that we are making payments to customers and today we were able to make payments to about two hundred customers”, he added.
The embattled gold dealership firm had announced earlier that it will from Friday, December 27, 2019, begin paying customers their locked up funds which have been in arrears for the past three years.
The company since its collapse in 2018 following a suspension order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been struggling to refund monies invested by the customers.
A statement issued last week had the company explaining what it termed as a ‘reverse mechanism’ as the payment plan and formula to be used for the monies to be disbursed.
“Payments shall be made strictly following a ‘reverse mechanism’ which implies from the last day (month) of our business operations to the very day when our business commenced. Thus from 12th September 2019 to 18th March 2013. To this end, we shall start to settle all transactions in September 2019 and those who didn’t access extra values as we proceed in the first above described mode and manner.”
Management also assured that it is in the process of retrieving debts owed the company to shore up funds in other to pay its customers.
Customers cannot be paid
However, lawyers for Menzgold Ghana Limited have said they do not have the “capacity” to pay customers’ locked up cash.
Menzgold in its statement dated 18th December 2019 had instructed its lawyers to make payments to customers.
“Claims shall be settled in full and shall be subject to an invitation from our legal team: Kwame Akuffo & Co. Unlimited strictly following scheduled order,” the statement said.
The lawyers, however, said it will be unable to carry out such an instruction.
“We have informed the client that the firm does not have the “capacity” to carry out the said exercise. The firm is therefore unable to accept instructions in that regard. Under the circumstances, we have advised the client to instruct a third party entity to carry out the instructions in respect of the above-mentioned,” a statement from the lawyers said.
The customers of the defunct firm vowed to kick against any payment plan that fails to promise a 100% retrieval of their locked up investments.
A spokesperson for the customers, Fredrick Forson indicated that they will only rescind their decision if a meeting is scheduled between the management of the company and the customers.
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