RAFMOH Gold and its founder, Muhammed Nandoli Rafeeq, have firmly rejected allegations linking them to illegal gold smuggling, describing the claims made by the Ghana Gold Board as entirely unfounded and without merit.

The rebuttal comes in the wake of a joint Police and Gold Board operation launched on Tuesday, 16th September, targeting four individuals accused of involvement in illicit gold trade.

Among those named in the ongoing investigation are Muhammed Nandoli Rafeeq, Abdul Karim, Sadique Abubakar, Muhammed Afsal, and Puth Puthalan.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board, Sammy Gyamfi, has claimed the suspects are members of a seven-person smuggling syndicate and announced a GH¢1 million bounty on each of the four who remain at large.

However, in a statement issued on Wednesday, legal representatives Gawuga@Law, acting on behalf of Mr Rafeeq and RAFMOH Gold, firmly denied the allegations.

“Any suggestion that RAFMOH Gold and Mr Nandoli are part of a gold smuggling syndicate is unfounded,” the statement read. “To avoid jeopardising the ongoing investigations, no further public comments will be made. Our clients will, however, pursue all appropriate legal avenues while fully cooperating with the Ghana Gold Board and law enforcement authorities.”

The lawyers also clarified that RAFMOH Gold ceased operations in Ghana following the enactment of the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140), which introduced a new licensing framework. Under Section 28 of the Act, certain nationality-based restrictions rendered both the company and Mr Rafeeq ineligible to apply for gold trading licences.

“Consequently, the company has stopped buying and exporting gold from Ghana,” the statement confirmed.

The legal team further sought to dispel specific claims made in connection to recent seizures:

• Their clients have not purchased gold from NK Bernark Enterprise in Tarkwa or elsewhere in the past two months.
• They are not linked to the 9.2 kilograms of gold recently seized by the Ghana Gold Board.
• They have not authorised any individual or group to act or transact gold business on their behalf since halting operations.

The statement concluded with an expression of confidence that Mr Rafeeq and RAFMOH Gold would be cleared of all wrongdoing once investigations are completed.