NAM 1 reveals that he received advice from BoG to streamline the operations of Menzgold
Nana Appiah Mensah, the founder of the now-defunct Menzgold company, who is currently on trial for allegedly defrauding over 16,000 individuals of GH¢1.6 billion, has denied allegations of circumventing Ghana’s laws to operate an illegal gold deposit-taking business.
His lawyer, Kwame Akuffo, informed the High Court on Tuesday, September 19, that NAM 1, as he is popularly known, did not bypass the provisions of the Banking and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930), as claimed by the prosecution.
Instead, Akuffo asserted that officials from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) had advised Mensah to change his company’s name from Menzbank to Menzbanc and to establish a separate entity, Brew Marketing Consult, to maintain a clear distinction between the gold marketing business and Menzgold’s operations.
“Indeed, in meetings with the BoG, it was the BoG that recommended that a third accused company (Brew Marketing Consult) be set up in order to ensure that the gold marketing business was kept distinct from the business of Menzgold,” counsel said, reports Graphic Online’s Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson from the court.
Akuffo did not disclose the names of the BoG officials who provided this advice but indicated that they might be summoned to testify during the trial to support NAM 1’s defense.
Nana Appiah Mensah has pleaded not guilty to 39 charges, including violations of Act 930, fraud by false pretense, fraudulent breach of trust, and money laundering.
The court, presided over by Justice Dr. Ernest Owusu-Dapaa, an Appeals Court Judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, granted NAM 1 bail amounting to GH¢500 million, along with four sureties.
As part of the bail conditions, Justice Owusu-Dapaa ordered NAM 1 to surrender his passport to the court’s registrar and report to the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) every Thursday.
