NPP won’t allow a ‘DKM experience’, we’ll crack the whip – Ken Agyapong
Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, has backed the government’s moves to clean up the financial space amid the controversy surrounding the minerals trading company, Menzgold Ghana Limited.
Mr. Agyapong said the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration was wary of how the DKM saga, among other struggles within the financial sector, affected the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the 2016 elections.
He likened the gravity of the rot within Ghana’s banking situation to the Ponzi scheme ran by one Bernie Maddof, an American former stockbroker, admitted fraudster, and convicted felon who is currently serving a life prison sentence for charges related to his massive Ponzi scheme that cost 64 billion US dollars.
“It [the Bernie Maddof scandal] is no different from what is happening,” Mr. Agyapong remarked on Adom TV’s Badwam.
He acknowledged that the actions of the government to sanitize the sector was sparking some panic, but he said some of the affected persons needed to learn from their greed.
“Whether panic today or tomorrow or yesterday, they have to feel it so that next time, when someone offers an investment, you are more careful; because of greed you chase after 12 percent monthly interests.”
Mr. Agyapong also made reference to Menzgold, which has temporarily halted parts of its operations on September 13, 2018, following a directive from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
This was after several warnings from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) which went unheeded.
But some customers are protesting against the suspension of the operations of Menzgold saying their investments were at risk, and that government was unfairly pursuing a Ghanaian business.
Mr. Agyapong retorted that persons blaming government “should stop talking.”
“You can’t fight the Securities and Exchange Commission because we need to regulate this. If not, we’ll get to the point where it is like DKM, which we in the NPP campaigned on and we have learnt our lessons.”
“If we just sit for some financial institutions to mess up, they [the people] will blame us,” the MP stated.
Mr. Agyapong spoke about an instance where some marketing executives of Menzgold approached him to also invest in the business.
According to him, he warned them to stay way from him since he was not interested in doing business with them.
SEC orders Menzgold to suspend ‘illegal’ trading
Menzgold Ghana Limited was asked to suspend its gold trading operations with the public by SEC.
According to the SEC, Menzgold has been dealing in the purchase and deposit of gold collectables from the public and issuing contracts with guaranteed returns with clients, without a valid license from the Commission.
This, the SEC said, is in contravention of “section 109 of Act 929 with consequences under section 2016 (I) of the same Act.”
The company was however cleared to continue its “other businesses of assaying, purchasing gold from small-scale miners and export of gold.”
Kwesi Pratt blasts Menzgold; dares them to sue if they’ve a case
Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has also rubbished assertions by some Menzgold Ghana Limited customers that the government is trying to sabotage the gold trading company.
He said he could not get his head around the fact some Ghanaians feel Menzgold should be given special treatment by regulators when laws exists for everyone’s business in Ghana.
“How can we sit here and say we cannot touch a company when it is not following regulations because it will hurt people? Which business, when touched won’t affect people,” Mr. Pratt retorted on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
