Menzgold customers besiege Dzorwulu office and attempt blocking N1 highway

Some customers of gold dealership firm, Menzgold Ghana Limted on Monday morning besieged the Dzorwulu branch of the company in anticipation of receiving their locked-up investments.

The action by the customers followed a court ruling in Kumasi last week that said the properties of the company should be sold to pay the customers.

The court order for the auctioning of the assets of Menzgold to pay clients followed a writ filed by one Henry Darko.

Demonstration

There was a similar action last Thursday when the aggrieved customers stormed the Dzorwulu office to demand their investments just as they have been doing in the past months.

The troubled gold dealership firm has petitioned parliament to help it resolve its regulatory issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) so it can pay all entitlements owed its clients.

In a petition to Parliament's Finance Committee dated December 3, 2018 and signed by Corporate Manager, Offie Nana Yaw on behalf of the CEO, Menzgold said it wants members of the committee to intervene in the standoff for the benefit of its customers.

Menzgold was ordered by SEC to stop its gold vault market operations in August 2018 over regulatory infractions.

Since then, the company has been unable to pay its customers said to be in the thousands.

Police foil attempt to block highway

But for the timely intervention of the police on Monday morning, the aggrieved customers would have blocked the George Walker Bush Highway (N1 highway) which links the port city of Tema to the Central and Western regions. The Dzorwulu office of Menzgold is located adjacent the highway.

The police, led by Chief Superintendent Kwasi Ofori in charge of operations in Greater Accra prevented what the police described as a "mass suicide" attempt by running to the highway to block it.

Chief Superintendent Ofori told journalists that the police will not allow the demonstrators to flout the law and that they were there to protect lives.

"We will not allow them to commit mass suicide by blocking the highway," he said and added, "so we are doing everything possible to make sure that we de-escalate the ensuing troubles. We will not allow anybody to lead them to commit mass suicide," he said.