Nana Appiah Mensah aka NAM1
The embattled gold collectibles firm, Menzgold Ghana Limited, reportedly owes its customers about $42 million.
Currently, there are an estimated 46,000 individuals whose funds have been locked up with Menzgold, and they are mounting pressure on the relevant authorities to recover their investments.
Initially, there were speculations that Menzgold owed its customers about $200 million.
Plea Deal
Already, details are emerging about a plea deal that the embattled Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, popularly known as NAM1, has put on the table for the government’s consideration.
Sources are claiming NAM1 told the government to sell his assets to pay off some customers whose funds have been locked up with his firm.
However, the government is said to be adamant and wants NAM1 to put the request in writing before it acts.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the delegation that recently visited NAM1, who is currently under arrest in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), over an alleged scandalous gold deal, has advised government not to directly intervene in the sale of his properties but allow his family to do so.
EOCO Effort
The Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) is said to be making headway in tracking the properties of Menzgold and its beleaguered CEO.
The anti-graft body reportedly managed to secure over 40 luxurious cars and a number of mansions belonging to NAM1 which could possibly be sold to settle his indebtedness to his customers.
Sources said that more luxurious cars were ‘seized’ on Tuesday.
EOCO is also said to be taking ‘swift’ action because it does not want would-be claimants to start protesting that the properties in question belong to them.
This revelation comes at a time when EOCO has frozen three separate bank accounts of NAM1, and is said to be making frantic efforts to trace his other assets, including mansions.
EOCO has appealed to the public to volunteer further information that would lead to the discovery of NAM1’s other properties.
Incessant Calls
There have been incessant calls on the government by the affected customers, who are believed to be about 46,000, to confiscate the assets of NAM1 and his Menzgold Company, but EOCO is insisting that it can only act on express court orders.
When the problems started, NAM1, who has been accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, was invited specifically for an alleged misdemeanour in breach of the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institution Act 2016, Act 930.
Arrest and nature of case
NAM1 reportedly left Ghana in December 2018 to ‘chase’ an amount of $31 million owed him, but was later arrested in the UAE over an alleged scandalous $51 million gold deal involving an Emirati firm named Horizon Royal Diamonds.
According to Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, a Deputy Attorney General, who led the delegation to meet NAM1 in Dubai last week, the Menzgold boss was arrested in Dubai in connection with the alleged fraud case.
NAM1 travelled to Dubai on December to reportedly retrieve about $31 million owed him by Emirati firm Horizon Royal Diamonds and an additionally $3 million from an Arab called Ahmed.
The move, according to a source, was to enable him raise monies to be able to pay Menzgold’s customers, who are demanding the repayment of their monies.
Properties
NAM1’s difficulty in retrieving his ‘supposed’ funds in Dubai has apparently prevented him from paying off Menzgold’s customers.
By Melvin Tarlue