Menzgold customers granted bail
Emelia Ennin Abbey
All the 90 customers of Menzgold Ghana Limited who were arrested last Wednesday have been granted bail after they met the bail conditions of the police.
They were arrested for forcing their way into the residence of the Chief Executive Officer of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, popularly known as NAM 1, to demand their locked-up investments.
The arrested customers, who were charged for breaking the law on public order, since the police said they did not secure a permit for their actions, were also charged with assaulting a security detail of the estate and unlawful entry.
Lawyers for the customers followed up at the offices of the Accra Regional Police Command, where their clients had been taken, in a bid to secure bail for their clients.
Initially some of the customers could not meet the earlier bail condition of the police which required them to provide a surety each but that was later changed when three leaders of the aggrieved customers decided to serve as surety for them.
Court
The Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Effia Tenge, said all the suspects were expected to report to the police command yesterday while the police prepared to put them before court.
As part of the preparation to put the suspects before the court, some investigators from the Accra Regional Police Command last Thursday went to the residence of Nana Appaih Mensah to pick up evidence and interrogate the security detail and other witnesses.
Government’s intervention
A lawyer representing some of the customers, Ms Amanda Akuokor Clinton, called on the government to intervene and find a lasting solution to the issue of the Menzgold customers.
Although she said she did not condone the threat of violence, she said the massing up of the customers at Nana Appaih Mensah’s residence was an indication that the customers would stop at nothing to retrieve their locked-up funds.
She said the government must work with the company to retrieve their funds and ensure the customers received their money.
The customers had come from Kumasi, Accra and Tarkwa in chartered buses, overpowered the private security men at the entrance and forced their way into Nana Appaih Mensah’s compound, chanting and threatening not to leave the premises until they had been paid their money.
A spokesperson for the aggrieved customers of Menzgold, Mr Frederick Forson, who was one of the persons who stood surety for the suspects, said the suspects were law-abiding and were ready to cooperate with the police.
He indicated that the aim of the group was to retrieve their locked-up funds.