Finance Minister says Menzgold customers were motivated by greed

The Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has said that customers of the troubled gold firm, Menzgold Ghana were motivated by greed.

Speaking at an event in Accra, Mr Ofori Atta said some Menzgold customers are educated and knew the gold firm was not licensed but still went ahead to invest with them.

“I know the SEC has come down hard, strong and justifiably on Menzgold. But the issue with a company of Menzgold, as I look at the Ministry of Finance and I see some people who are at the Ministry of Finance who have invested there, I look at the Bank of Ghana and I see some people who have invested there and rarely and of course the military etc., so, it becomes an issue of greed as a people and our own behaviour, when we are so clear as educated as we might be that when we went there, there was no license.”

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The customers have been calling on the government to pay them at least their principal investments especially after customers of defunct DKM were paid by the government.

However, Mr Ofori Atta said the government will not investors of Menzgold despite their lamentations.

“I think it is not in the place of government to fund or get your money back for you. It was an obvious trap that you went into. Maybe we as an industry should also push the whole issue of education and empowerment so that people do not fall prey to that.”

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Meanwhile, Menzgold has noted they have started the payment of 15% of deposits to customers seeking to terminate their contract with them.

The company has been struggling since had it had brushes with the Securities and Exchange Commission after it was ordered to stop trading gold to the public.