Tarkwa: Ex-Mine Workers Invested "Handsome" Severance Pay In Menzgold – Dr. Aubynn

Many former employees of mining companies in Tarkwa in the Western Region invested their huge severance packages in the now-struggling gold-trading firm Menzgold Ghana Limited and are now suffering due to the company’s inability to pay them their extra values and principal investment capital, Dr Toni Aubynn, former CEO of the Minerals Commission has said.

“I’m interested in the people of Tarkwa in particular, where most of the employees, either out of ignorance or out of greed, put a lot of money there [Menzgold]. Some of them took severance payment or redundancy payment from the [mining companies]. Redundancy in the mining areas are quite handsome and a lot of them deposited their receipt in this vehicle and now what we see is what we are seeing.

“So, I really hope something could be done to ensure that the citizens, people who have put their monies there, will not feel another Pyram…,” he told Class FM on Wednesday, 14 November 2018.

Dr Aubynn, who is the current president of the Africa Institute for Executive Industries, said: “Something should be done so that Menzgold, in particular, tries to pay people whose monies are with them; after all, they traded with that, and, therefore, they may have made some money out of that and, therefore, they should be able to pay them.”

The gold-dealing firm has been unable to pay its clients their dividends due to an ongoing battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Ghana, over its operations.

While the state institutions said the company has not been licensed to take deposits, Menzgold insisted it did not take deposits and does not answer to the two institutions.

Some clients who have not been able to access their dividends are seeking to terminate their contracts with the company while others have hinted at dragging Menzgold to court.

The company, however, says it will pay 15 per cent of its clients’ principal investments to those wishing to terminate their contract. It has also urged others seeking to continue doing business with them to migrate onto its new online product for “prompt extra value and principal payments.”