Nana Appiah Mensah, aka NAM1
The trial of the embattled Chief Executive Officer of Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah, aka NAM1, and three others has been adjourned to November 20, 2019.
This was as a result of the absence of the prosecutor, ASP Sylvester Asare, who sent a letter to the trial court that he was on an assignment outside the jurisdiction and pleaded for an adjournment.
Fresh Charges
The prosecution was expected to read the fresh charges and the fact sheet which were filed on September 3, 2019, after the old one was amended to make room for six general charges against NAM1 and his accomplices with 61 counts involved.
The charges include abetment, defrauding by false pretences, money laundering, carrying out deposit-taking without licence, selling minerals without licence, as well as unlawful deposit-taking.
In spite of a total of 61 counts arising out of the charges preferred against him and his accomplices, the amount involved in NAM1’s alleged ponzy scheme has dropped drastically from GH¢1.65 billion to a little over GH¢1 million – GH¢1,187,500.
Main Suspects
Apart from NAM1, his wife, Rose Tetteh; his sister, Benedicta Appiah, as well as two of his companies – Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult Ltd – are the accused persons mentioned on the charge sheet.
Per the amended charge sheet, NAM1, Rose Tetteh and Benedicta Appiah are facing 30 counts of abetment.
NAM1 is facing another count of money laundering for taking GH¢1,187,500 from the complainants knowing it to be proceeds of crime.
Two of his companies – Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult Ltd – are facing 26 counts of defrauding by false pretences.
Again, the two companies, represented by NAM1, are facing two counts of engaging in deposit-taking business without license, one count of unlawful deposit-taking and another count of sales of minerals without licence.
One other noticeable change in the amended charge and facts sheet is the reduction in the number of complainants who reportedly lodged a complaint with the police.
The old charge sheet had stated that NAM1, the other accused persons and his companies had defrauded over 16,000 clients.
Although the new charge maintains that some 16,000 people have been defrauded, it limits the trial to some 13 persons as the complaints whose GH¢1,187,500 NAM1 and his accomplices allegedly took.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak