Attorney-General moves NAM1’s trial to High Court
The Attorney General has filed fresh charges in the High Court against Nana Appiah Mensah, alias NAM1, the Chief Executive Officer of Menzgold Ghana Limited, and two individuals.
The recent charge sheet preferred 39 counts of defrauding by false pretence against Mensah, as well as Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult Limited.
The charge sheet, filed on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, was signed by Mrs. Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP),
This was after the Attorney General filed a nolle prosequi in the case against Mensah.
The facts indicated that Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult Limited were sister companies owned by Mensah.
Menzgold started out in 2013 as Menzbank Ghana Company Limited, whereas Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited was incorporated in December 2016.
She said Mensah was a Director and Chief Executive Officer of Menzgold and Brew Marketing Ghana Limited and a majority shareholder of both companies.
Mensah operated Menzgold as a deposit-taking business masked as gold trading without the required license.
On March 11, 2015, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) issued a public notice to the effect that Menzbank was an unlicensed deposit-taking institution.
The DDP said Mensah, in a bid to circumvent the notice of BoG, changed the company’s name from Menzbank to Menzbanc.
She said sometime in 2017, Mensah changed the company’s name from Menzbanc to Menzgold Ghana Company Limited.
Mrs Obuobisa said that Mensah’s business module was that Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited sold gold and gold collectables to the public for the purpose of investing in Menzgold, even though the company lacked a license to sell gold.
On August 22, 2016, the Minerals Commission granted Menzgold, a three-year license to purchase and export gold.
The terms of the license permitted the company to purchase gold from small-scale miners for export only.
Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited breached its restricted gold purchase and exportation licence by selling gold to persons in Ghana.
Mensah and Menzgold established a gold vault market in 2016, offering the public a platform to trade in gold and gold collectables.
To circumvent the requirements of the law, Mensah and Menzgold set up A3 to sell gold to the public as a means for Menzgold to take the gold deposits.
Between 2017 and 2018, Mensah and Brew Marketing solicited members of the public to purchase gold and gold collectibles from Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited and deposit the gold with Menzgold.
Mensah and Brew Marketing encouraged the public to deposit purchased gold and gold valuables with Menzgold in exchange for profits ranging from seven to ten per cent.
In response to this offer, some 16,000 individuals deposited large sums of money in the belief that they were dealing with an authorized deposit-taking company that would guarantee them the returns advertised by the accused.
Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited continued to operate despite many engagements and warnings issued by the regulatory agencies.
Meanwhile, members of the public began to face difficulties, such as delayed payments or lower dividends; a number of cheques issued by Menzgold were also returned.
Mrs Obuobisa stated that on September 7, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered Menzgold to stop its operations for failure to obtain an SEC license.
Between November 2016 and March 2019, many customers of the accused petitioned the police, claiming that they had invested a lot of money in Menzgold but were unable to recover their investments despite their best efforts.
Investigations showed that the accused took a total of GH¢1,680,920 from their customers under false pretences, which they did not recover.
The DDP said investigations found that between 2017 and 2018, the accused moved a large amount of depositor’s money from Menzgold Ghana Company Ltd. and Brew Marketing Consult Limited to Zylofon Media, a company affiliated with Mensah.
She said Mensah withdrew or transferred vast amounts of money into his bank account for his own use.
According to the DPP, investigations found that the money fraudulently collected from depositors and dishonestly appropriated by the accused remained unpaid after Menzgold Ghana Company Ltd.’s license was terminated.
“In the course of investigations, a number of vehicles were recovered from the accused persons which have been auctioned, and the proceeds kept in an exhibit account. Some gold bars were also recovered from the accused persons. accused persons,” she said.
Source: GNA