The Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, who made the announcement in Accra yesterday, said his outfit had come to the realisation that there was an outstanding lodgement of over GH¢200 million with the company.

“I think we have come up with a realisation that maybe over GH¢200 million in change is outstanding.

The chief executive of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, aka NAM1, has been apprehended in Dubai and a committee will be put together to see how to liquidate the company and whatever it is that can be found will be given to those who gave out money to him,” he added.

Mr Ofori-Atta was responding to a question posed by a soldier during an open forum with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Burma Hall at Burma Camp in Accra.

The durbar was part of the President’s itinerary during his visit to the headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).

Caution

The minister, however, cautioned Ghanaians to be wary of such dubious transactions because the “Government is not going to be standing in for issues of this nature where we are very clear the company is not licensed and you know the risk that had been taken when you invested.

“We are spending over GH¢11 billion on the licensed banks which have about two million depositors and that has put an excessive strain on the treasury, but I think the banking sector is stronger with a deposit insurance scheme so that any sort of deposit of over GH¢6,000 will be covered, he indicated.

President’s response

For his part, President Akufo-Addo said what had happened was “speaking to all of us that in every society or economy, there are returns on money which are considered normal and reasonable.

“People come and offer returns that are extraordinary and so I am pleading with you to be on your guard.Yes, as I sit here, I will like 10 per cent or 15 per cent returns on my money every month but it is not realistic.

So, the plea I am making is that, whenever you hear schemes that come to say they are in to give you money that is extraordinary in its returns, you have to be careful about patronising.

“These are the schemes that have taken place in our own country and all across the world and invariably, they have been found to be very fraudulent and suspicious,” the President stated.

Explaining further, President Akufo-Addo said with a new Financial Stability Council in place, entities such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Deposits Commission and the National Pensions Regulatory Authority would, for the first time, have an institutional framework where they would sit together to look at the financial architecture of the country as a whole.

“Everybody will be scrutinised so if you are not regulated by X you are regulated by Y and if you are not regulated by any of them, regulation will come in to make sure that you are also part of regulation,” the President said, adding, “we need to be disciplined, we need to hold fast to certain simple values.

You make money because you have worked for it.”