The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has reiterated that government will not settle any customer of Menzgold who has his or her investments locked up.

In a statement, he said government sympathises with all affected persons, but added that the tax payers’ money will not be used to pay aggrieved customers.

“While government sympathizes customers on the difficulties encountered with their transaction with the company, the state cannot and will not resort to the use of taxpayer’s monies to refund customers monies,” Mr. Oppong Nkrumah stressed.

He added that customers of the gold dealership firm were warned as far back as in 2016 but they defied Bank of Ghana’s caution.

To this end, the Information Minister said, the BoG has no obligation to make refunds to customers whose monies are locked up.

“This warning was made as far back as April 2016, and, unfortunately, was disregarded by many customers of Menzgold. BoG and SEC are, therefore, not clothed with any legal mandate to refund monies clients.

“Customers whose contractual obligations have not been met by the company are entitled to seek a legal remedy to retrieved their funds paid to the company ostensibly to buy gold,” he added.

Menzgold has been in the news in recent months following disagreements with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) regarding its operations.

The latest development is the order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to have the company shut down its gold trading activities.

Currently, the company has been forced to halt its collectibles and all other new businesses related to its gold vault market.

This has led to a series of demonstrations by aggrieved customers, who have petitioned President Akufo-Addo to intervene.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah has been declared wanted after an Accra Circuit Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

The warrant was issued on Wednesday on charges of defrauding by false pretence and money laundering.