The customers said Godfred Dame who served as the Deputy Attorney-General has failed to take critical action on major issues that were brought to the attention of the ministry.
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Don't approve Godfred Dame as Attorney-General - Aggrieved Menzgold customers write to Parliament
Some aggrieved customers of the embattled gold collectibles firm, Menzgold Ghana Limited have written to Parliament asking the Appointments Committee not to approve Godfred Yeboah Dame as the Attorney-General.
Godfred Yeboah Dame
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The customers known as the Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of Menzgold Ghana (CACM) said: "even though Mr. Dame was not the substantive head of the AG at the time, his approach to the professionals and stakeholders who visited him in relation to the Menzgold matter was laissez-faire, non-committal and dismissive."
"Altogether he came across as a person seeking to be a Minister of Justice he did not see why Ghana should follow other countries that have a zero-tolerance for criminals defrauding the mass public through Ponzi schemes. Furthermore, from his previous stand in this criminal case, if appointed, he is likely to follow the government's position that ‘greedy’ customers are not victims of a pervasive, orchestrated, strategic, large scale financial crime against the citizens of Ghana," the aggrieved customers said in a memorandum to Parliament.
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The customers noted: "Our fear is that he would not act in the best interest of Ghana in all public interest matters and not exercise independent legal opinion (should the Government's overall position in a particular matter be against public interest or the State's interest).
"We, therefore, invite the Appointments Committee to review this petition and take the petition into consideration when making a final decision regarding whether Mr. Dame suits the position of Minister of Justice."
Parliament's Appointments Committee will be vetting ministers-designate today, Wednesday, February 10, 2021, and Kwaku Agyeman-Manu for minister-designate of Health and Albert Kan-Dapaah, minister-designate of National Security will take their turn.
Godfred Dame is scheduled to be vetted on Friday, February 12, 2021.
The woes of Menzgold and NAM1
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The operations were shut down in September 2018 by the Ghana Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company's operating license which had initially been granted in 2014, was revoked by the Minerals Commission of Ghana had primarily been for gold trading and export.
However, as reports of a gold-investment scheme with high returns started to circulate, the Bank of Ghana begun to publish warnings that cautioned citizens to be wary of dealing with the firm and warned the firm against taking cash deposits.
Customers deposit at Menzgold have been locked out since the shutdown and can't access their investments, leading to demonstrations at its various branches.
In January 2019, the Economic and Organised Crime Office of Ghana, secured a court order to freeze all landed properties and vehicles belonging to the embattled Chief Executive Officer of Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah.
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The landed properties include Menzgold Ghana Limited, Menzgold Office Complex, Zylofon Art Complex, Brew Marketing Consult, Star Mad. Football Club, Zylofon Music and Media Company Limited, Brew Energy Company Limited, and G. Tech Automobile Service.
Nana Appiah Mensah who later went to Dubai to claim some of his money to pay his customers was arrested and sued by a Dubai-based company called Horizon Royal Diamond.
He won the case and was released which the court ordered an amount of $39 million to be paid to him.
He returned to Ghana and was arrested by the Ghana Police and later released on bail of 1 billion Ghana Cedis. Nana Appiah Mensah is now preparing a payment schedule for his customers.
On Wednesday, January 8, 2020, some aggrieved customers of Menzgold Ghana Limited massed up at the residence of NAM1 to discuss payments of their locked-up funds. Nana Appiah Mensah fired shots to ward off his angry customers because he felt threatened by their raucous presence.
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