Private legal practitioner, Kwame Jantuah has charged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to seek help from parliament if it is unable to clamp down on financial institutions that are violating regulations that guide them.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is the legally mandated body responsible for protecting investors interest by ensuring that their investments are protected by whichever financial institution they do business with.
Last week, SEC issued a directive to gold investment firm, Menzgold to shut down its operations for failing to acquire the right licenses to allow them trade in gold.
Menzgold has been in the news for months now following several warnings from the Bank of God cautioning the general public against making deposits with the firm since they did not have the right licences to operate.
Following the directive by SEC that was made public last week, there has been some level of uproar from a section of the general public, as well as workers of Menzgold accusing the SEC of seeking to run down the gold investment firm, with some hitting the street to demonstrate.
Reacting to the feedback from the public, Mr. Jantuah said it is wrong for people to personalize the issue with the mindset that SEC is seeking to collapse Menzgold.
The legal practitioner, who was speaking on TV3 New Day on Saturday, said the Securities and Exchange Commission should be allowed to do its work, and advised that it seek help from parliament to fully deal with the issue.
“I feel that if they are regulating within a grey area that none of the regulators have the power to control them, go to parliament, have an emergency session, pass a law that will help them curb whatever they are doing.”
He said SEC is only trying to protect people’s money, and should be allowed to do so without any interference.
“Money has overtaken some of the things we do. Zylofon is supporting the league, if the man goes down, it affects the league, sit and discuss this thing, and let’s stop this personalisation, it doesn’t help the case that one is seeking to protect,” Mr Jantuah said.
Menzgold and super-normal returns
Chief Operations Officer of Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson who was also speaking on TV3 New Day, underscored the need for SEC to be worried over Menzgold’s dealings since the firm offers unrealistic returns which he described as ‘super-normal’.
“Two things, First of all, if you give your money to anybody who gives you a contract that gives you a fixed return, it is a financial transaction; there are enough regulators in this country to govern that transaction.”
“The challenge we have is that Menzgold claims it is operating in a grey area where they are not subject to anybody’s regulation, be it the BoG or be it SEC, and that is the argument that I find troublesome,” Mr. Jackson said.
According to him, the big the return, the higher the risk of losing one’s investment.
“Menzgold promises super-normal returns; super-normal is any returns that you can’t seem to get from normal operations.”
He also stressed the need for people to discuss the issues devoid of emotions and claims that SEC wants to run down the gold investment firm.
“For me, let us stop the emotional back and forth, because Bank of Ghana has warned…, SEC says if anything goes wrong, don’t come knocking at my door. There is too much emotion,” he stressed.
3news
