MTN, BoG not convincing, we’ll petition gov’t for our money – Savanna Brokerage investors

Savannah Brokerage used MTN Mobile Money merchant accounts to received funds from investors[/caption] Customers of beleaguered online investment scheme, Savannah Brokerage, whose investments have been locked up, say they will seek government’s support to retrieve their monies. Speaking to 3FM Business, the group said the intervention of MTN, in whose Mobile Money Merchant accounts the funds were deposited and the Bank of Ghana, has not been convincing to them. A victim and spokesperson for the group, Isaac Tettehfio says all attempts to get support from the Bank of Ghana and MTN has proven futile. “We had some assurance from MTN and CID that they are investigating, but we are not convinced, so we are putting our documents together to petition the president and the finance minister. We are seeking some legal advice and it will be in the immediate soon”, he said. Early this year, some customers of Savanna Brokerage, an online investment company, cried over their locked up cash, raising an alarm. The company was later discovered to have been running a Ponzi scheme using MTN Mobile Money Merchant accounts to defraud thousands of customers. Preliminary investigations culminated in the arrest of some suspects and the freezing of the Mobile Money Merchant accounts that were used to perpetrate the act. The matter has since been referred to the police for further investigations but some investors think the investigation has taken too long and are thus demanding for their money. Even though MTN gave assurance that it is working with regulators and following procedure to appropriately disburse the funds, the investors say they have waited for far too long. Read: We’re working with regulators to disburse frozen Savanna Brokerage Funds – MTN But MTN insists, until investigations on the matter are completed customers will have to wait as their funds are safe with the Bank of Ghana. Background Savannah Brokerage is a Kenyan company, which started operations in Ghana in 2014, managed three packages of investment; Knight Package, Queen Package and Kings Package. Knight Package was a weekly form of investment – every customer was to invest more than GH¢50. Customers were promised 10% on their deposit on weekly basis so you get 40% return on your capital at the end of the month. For Queen Package, customers get 60% on their investment money after a month. Kings Package promised 100% return on an investment. The investment was to last for three months. To invest, the victims say, the money had to be be paid through an MTN Merchant and the operators of the scheme get access to the funds. As it stands, about 40, 000 customers who invested with Savanna Brokerage, cannot access their funds. By Grace Hammond Asare|3news.com|Ghana]]>