Nana Appiah Mensah, aka NAM1
The embattled Chief Executive of defunct Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah aka NAM1, has indicated his intention to subpoena the Ghana Police Service and other institutions as part of his defence in his ongoing trial for defrauding the company’s customers.
NAM1 has also opted to testify orally rather than file witness statements for either himself or his witnesses, which would be adopted by the court as evidence-in-chief.
Among the institutions he intends to subpoena as he takes steps to prove his innocence in the ongoing trial are Ghana Police Service, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Minerals Commission, Bank of Ghana, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and Zenith Bank.
NAM1, Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited are facing 39 counts of defrauding by false pretences, inducing members of the public to invest, money laundering, among others for a total of GH¢340,835,650.
It has been more than a year since a High Court in Accra presided over by Justice Ernest Owusu Dapaa of the Court of Appeal, ordered NAM1 to open his defence and also file witness statements of his witnesses.
The trial has not seen any significant progress since July 11, 2024, as the accused is yet to open his defence, largely because of an interlocutory appeal he filed at the Court of Appeal challenging the decision of the trial court.
He was expected to open his defence yesterday but the court had indicated that it had received a letter from NAM1’s lawyer, Kwame Akuffo, who is said to be unwell.
The court however, told NAM1 that it was ready for his witness, signaling the accused to open his defence as instructed at the last sitting.
The accused however, pleaded with the court to give him some more time as he takes steps to subpoena some institutions to testify on his behalf.
He also indicated that he intended to “parade at least five witnesses to give an account from customers’ perspective,” but his lawyer who has the “legal knowhow, thinks we should do otherwise.”
“With respect and with the greatest respect to prosecution, it cannot be true that in the last one year we have been wasting judicial time not to open our defence,” NAM1 added.
The court adjourned the case to July 31, 2025, for the accused to open his defence.
The court on July 11, 2024, ordered NAM1 to open his defence after holding that the prosecution led by the Director of Public Prosecution, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, had led sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case against NAM1 and two of his companies to warrant a defence.
On the charge of defrauding by false pretence contrary to Section 131(1) of Act 29, the court found that it appears at this stage that NAM1 knew that the representations he made to the general public to invest in Menzgold were false, and must therefore answer to the charge.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak