Nana Appiah Mensah aka NAM 1 and wife
It has emerged that the Economic and Organized Crime Organization (EOCO) has frozen the bank accounts of embattled gold collectibles firm, Menzgold Ghana Limited, whose Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nana Appiah Mensah aka NAM1, is in the cooler in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The accounts, which are believed to be with three different banks, were frozen yesterday following an order from the court secured by the anti-graft body.
In its effort to trace the assets of NAM1 and his accomplices, EOCO has asked the public to volunteer information on the properties of the controversial businessman, who has been accused of allegedly running a Ponzi scheme in the country.
EOCO is looking for cash, houses, landed property, among others, and is using all state agencies to track them down.
Currently, many customers have millions of dollars locked up with Menzgold which initially claimed were into gold collectibles but reportedly took cash after promising mouthwatering returns.
A high-powered government delegation made up of Deputy Attorney-General, Joseph D. Kpemka, representatives from the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and Ghana Police, have travelled to Dubai to meet NAM1, who is being held for allegedly engaging in suspicious gold deals in that country.
On Monday, the Ghana Police Service confirmed rumours that NAM1 had been detained in Dubai, saying the arrest took place on 7th December last year.
According to the Ghana Police Service, they were informed about the arrest of NAM1 by Emirati officials based in Dubai on Sunday, 13th January.
The Crisis Began
The woes of Menzgold began after the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a letter dated September 7, 2018,
directed it to suspend its gold trading operations with the public.
SEC, at the time, said the directive was based
on 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 license from the Commission.
The regulatory agency averred that the move was
in contravention of Section 109 of Act 929 with consequences under section 2016
(I) of the same Act.
Menzgold was, however, allowed to continue its
other businesses of assaying, purchasing gold from small-scale miners and
export of gold.
Customers started demanding their investments gradually at the onset of the legal battle with SEC, but the situation worsened after Menzgold initially said that it could not pay its customers because of the directive from SEC.
It later reported that it had started paying off some of its customers.
A source at the time told DAILY GUIDE that the percentage payment schedules had been grouped into 100 per cent, 50 per cent, 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.
Menzgold Not A Ponzi Scheme
But the payments of the customers did not go on smoothly as planned, forcing customers to embark on a massive demonstration on January 8, 2019, in Kumasi which compelled government to intervene in the matter.
However, according to Daily Guide’s source, Menzgold has between 46,000 and 48,000 customers and not 1.8 million as reported earlier.
Again, the source indicated that Menzgold owes customers between $50 million and $60 million and not $200 million as being speculated.
The source insisted that Menzgold is not a Ponzi scheme as the public is being made to believe, adding that NAM1 is a businessman who set up the company to do genuine business.
NAM1, the source added, was trying to retrieve monies owed him to pay the customers before his arrest.