DKM Microfinance customers beseige company’s office

Angry customers of the DKM Microfinance Company yesterday besieged the office of the company to demand the payment of their investments.

It took a combined force of about 50 police and military personnel to prevent them from breaking into the building, which also houses a private health facility, Rabito Clinic.

In the process, the frustrated customers broke some louvres in the building and held patients of the clinic hostage for about five hours before dispersing.

The clinic is owned by the father of the Managing Director of the micro-finance company, Martin K. Delle.

The action followed an announcement by one of the leaders of the customers that they had obtained a police permit to demonstrate on Tuesday, October 27, 2015.

The company had made a public announcement that it would call its customers whose investments were due for payment to come to its office in batches, starting Friday.

Angry customers

But a large number of the customers who felt that they could not wait any longer after the Bank of Ghana (BoG) had lifted the ban on the operations of the company more than a month ago besieged the offices at dawn.

They were said to have been angered after they received information that they would not be paid following the arrest of Mr Delle the previous day.

So massive was the crowd that the military had to be called in to assist the police to prevent them from breaking into the building to destroy items in it.

When the Daily Graphic visited the scene, the frustrated customers were seen in groups discussing their plight, while armed police and military personnel guarded the entrances to the micro-finance company and the clinic.

It was after they had waited till 10:30 a.m. that one of the customers informed the others that they had received a police permit to demonstrate against the company next Tuesday.

One of the customers was heard saying that their next action would be to go to the terminal of DKM Transport to prevent the buses from operating.

“You cannot seize our investment, while your buses continue to work for you,” he said.

Bail

Meanwhile, the Sunyani District Magistrate’s Court yesterday granted Mr Delle bail in the sum of GH¢500,000.00 with sureties and for him to reappear before it on Wednesday, October 28, 2015.

This was after a customer of the company, Mr Michael Nii Washington, had secured a warrant for his arrest to face the  charge of defrauding by false pretence.

The court, presided over by Mr Fred Obikyere, also ordered the embattled businessman to deposit his passport with the registrar of the court.

Facts of case

On Wednesday, October 20, 2015, the complainant appeared before the court, led by his counsel, Mr Asare Atuah, with the complaint that he invested GH¢18,000 with the company on April 4, 2015 and was expecting the return of the money together with the agreed interest.

He stated that even though his investment had matured, the company had refused to return his money to him despite   several demands.

Nii Washington explained that after informing his counsel, he was advised to make a search at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to ascertain the assets of the company with particular reference to a Toyota Pickup with registration number GT 7871-15.

Before going to the DVLA office in Sunyani, he sighted the said vehicle with the company’s emblem boldly embossed on its doors.

However, by the time he received the results of the search, the emblem of the company had been peeled off the vehicle although the result revealed that the vehicle was registered in the name of Mr Delle.

According to the complainant, the attempt by Mr Delle to conceal the ownership of the said vehicle and the fact that the company owed a number of people who had invested various sums of money in it, which had not been returned to them, meant that the company was out to defraud its customers by disposing of its assets in order to evade the payment of liabilities it owed its customers.