Nana Apiah Mensah, aka Nam1
An Accra Circuit Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Nana Appiah Mensah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of embattled gold dealership company, Menzgold Ghana Limited.
The beleaguered CEO, who is currently out of the country, is wanted by the police for allegedly defrauding over one million customers of the company under false pretences.
Apart from Nana Appiah Mensah, popularly referred to as NAM 1, the warrant also covers the arrest of directors of the company – Rose Tetteh, who is believed to be his wife and Benedicta Mensah, the sister.
A copy of the warrant sighted by DAILY GUIDE ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and any other police officer to arrest Nana Appiah Mensah and other directors and put them before the court on the charge of defrauding by false pretences contrary to Section 131 of Act 29/60.
Jumps Bail
CEO of the gold collectibles firm has reportedly jumped bail, and now residing in South Africa.
Nana Appiah Mensah is the brain behind one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in Ghana, and is said to have joined his family in South Africa.
He is reported to have first relocated to Nigeria via the Togo border and then to South Africa.
His family has reportedly been living in South Africa right from the start of the Menzgold scandal.
In Ghana, customers of Menzgold, numbering over one million, have had their funds locked up with the company.
The aggrieved customers have been staging violent demonstrations across the country to demand their funds which appear to be elusive at least in the interim.
They organized a violent protest in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, in a bid to retrieve their investments, which resulted in the arrests of seven persons.
Arrest
DAILY GUIDE’s independent checks with the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) revealed that Mr. Appiah Mensah was technically arrested in October 2018 when the anti-graft body invited him.
Confirmation
Nephew to President Akufo-Addo, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, confirmed the relocation of Mr. Appiah Mensah.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Otchere-Darko revealed that “I understand the owner of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, has breached his bail condition and absconded.
“We can’t allow those who allegedly dupe people with such impunity to get away with it that easily.”
“Let’s smoke them out, wherever they are, and throw the book at them! While I will not want a pesewa of my tax money to be involved with this Ponzi matter, I believe the majority of Ghanaians will agree with me that the law must come down heavily on those who use such schemes to destroy the lives of many people,” he added.
Genesis of Crisis
Menzgold’s woes started on September 7, 2018, after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directed it to suspend its gold trading operations with the public.
The directive, according to SEC, was due to the fact that Menzgold had been dealing in the purchase and deposit of gold collectibles from the public and issuing contracts with guaranteed returns with clients without a valid licence from the Commission.
The move, SEC explained, “was in contravention of Section 109 of Act 929 with consequences under section 2016 (I) of the same Act.”
The company was, however, allowed to continue its other businesses of assaying, purchasing gold from small-scale miners and export of gold.
Sale of Properties
A Circuit Court in Kumasi had recently ordered the sale of Menzgold’s properties at Amakom and Patase in Kumasi.
By Gibril Abdul Razak & Melvin Tarlue