The lawyer for some aggrieved customers of the now-defunct gold dealership company Menzgold Ghana Limited, Ms Amanda Akuokor Clinton, has chastised the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for doing a shoddy job at protecting the customers of Menzgold.

Ms Clinton questioned why the regulators refused to act within the first year of Menzgold’s illegal deposit-taking activities but waited for the company to operate for five years before intervening.

Ms Clinton said BoG and SEC could have done better if they wanted to protect unsuspecting customers from getting duped.

In a statement, she said: “Regulatory bodies like SEC exist to shut down, at first instance, (warnings were not enough) unregulated companies who flout the law by deposit-taking, especially when these companies take in millions of dollars a year with countless customers – 1 in every 4 Ghanaians invested in Menzgold.

“Financial regulatory bodies exist primarily for those who remain outside their remit and cause serious financial loss as much as they exist for regulated companies and it is a wonder how the Bank of Ghana allowed hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time into the country to be invested in Menzgold from foreigners and Ghanaians abroad in particular while allowing 7 months to pass before aiding in the process of freezing all Menzgold/Brew business bank accounts. So much money could have left the country in that 7-month period after the shutdown of Menzgold's operations.

“If the regulators have no duty to act within the first year of deposit-taking, then anyone can just open shop and deposit-take and not be shut down if it’s not the regulators’ job to primarily protect the unsuspecting public.

“Warnings by SEC and BoG never went far enough since regulators are meant to take action and shut down in the first year of illegal deposit-taking, not leave poisonous 'financial treats' in the market place.



“Furthermore, 70% of all Menzgold customers invested in Menzgold's 5th year of operations, so, the earlier shutting down of the company could have prevented mass loss.”