Nana Appiah Mensah aka NAM1
A high-powered government delegation, made up of Joseph D. Kpemka, a Deputy Attorney-General; representatives from the Economic and Organised Crime (EOCO) and Police, is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), to meet the embattled Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold Company Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah aka NAM1.
The departure of the officials yesterday from Accra is ample evidence of just how government is taking the sleazy operations of the so-called gold dealership venture seriously.
NAM1, currently in the grip of Dubai security agents, has presented a challenge to the Ghana Police Service, which is now busily exploring how to extradite him to the country.
The delegation could explore the possibility of an extradition during the trip even though such a protocol does not exist between the two countries.
Extraditing him would be an obvious uphill task since the Arabs also require NAM1 for investigations as regards an alleged fraud case.
It is unknown how the visit of Ghana’s envoy to the Emirates Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan would tie in with that of the high-powered delegation.
As a citizen of Ghana, NAM1 is entitled to consular services when he is arrested in a foreign country under the current circumstances.
It’s unclear how much leverage such engagement and intervention can facilitate the repatriation of the fugitive.
It’s also unknown just how much an Interpol intervention too can bypass the non-extradition treaty arrangement.
Alhaji Ramadan, who is based in Abu Dhabi, has diplomatic jurisdiction over states constituting the Emirates.
His scheduled intervention today is therefore part of his terms of reference as Ghana’s envoy.
The police, in a release yesterday, eventually put paid to the uncertainty surrounding the authenticity of the arrest of NAM1 in Dubai.
The release indicated that the suspect was arrested on Sunday, January 13, 2019, in Dubai, the information having come to Ghana’s mission in the Emirates.
His arrest, according to the release, was to facilitate investigations into suspicions that he had been involved in a suspicious gold trading deal within the Emirati jurisdiction.
The release added that some Ghanaian officials had already visited NAM1 in the custody of the Dubai police.
It is instructive that even before the Ghana Police Service triggered an Interpol alert for his arrest, he had been charged with defrauding by false pretences.
The charge followed reports by victims of the sleaze. Two directors of the company also joined in the charge.
With the matter now at this level, perhaps Menzgold victims can heave a sigh of relief that at last the man responsible for their predicament could be brought down to face justice.
In a related development, former President Jerry John Rawlings has denied investing a substantial amount of money in the embattled gold dealership firm.
A list of investors making the rounds on social media and other media platforms suggests that the former president and some prominent members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have all invested in the company, which has been described as the biggest Ponzi scheme in the country.
Mr. Rawlings is said to have invested GH¢400,000.00 in the company, which reportedly has over 1.5 million customers in the country.
There appears to be politicization of the issue with the two main political parties in the country – NPP and NDC – both blaming each other over the plight of the customers of Menzgold.
A list purported to have been compiled by some members of the NDC ostensibly aimed at deepening the blame game names some front liners of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) as having invested huge sums of money in the company.
In what could be a quick rebuttal, another list deemed to be from the camp of the NPP also lists some prominent member of the NDC, who have also invested money in the troubled company.
But former President JJ Rawlings has distanced himself from the list, insisting that he does not have money to waste on such ‘questionable ventures.’
He wondered why the management of the troubled firm has not come out to react to the said list.
The former president said that others on the “silly list” indeed had anything to do with the company.
“Shouldn’t Menzgold be reacting to this silly list making the rounds on social media? I do not have a stash of money anywhere to waste on questionable ventures and doubt others on the list involved themselves in the mess,” Mr. Rawlings added.
Read details of the Menzgold saga in tomorrow’s DAILY GUIDE.
By A.R. Gomda, Jibril Abdul Razak