Menzgold’s accounts frozen

The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has finally frozen the accounts of Menzgold with immediate effect.

The Director of EOCO, Mr K.K. Amoah, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, said: “I can confirm that his accounts have been frozen.”

Asked about the number of accounts that had been frozen, Mr Amoah said: “Three or so, but we are still looking for more accounts to freeze, while investigations continue.”

Customers demand action

Meanwhile, some aggrieved customers of Menzgold are asking the government to, as a matter of urgency, secure a court order to temporarily take over the offices of the company (rented or owned) to prevent the owner and his accomplices from moving funds from vaults containing huge sums of money outside to unknown destinations.

The customers, who spoke with the Daily Graphic on grounds of anonymity, said they had reliable information from some workers of the company that the Chief Executive Officer, Nana Appiah Mensah, aka NAM 1, still had billions of Ghana cedis and other foreign currencies stashed in vaults in some of its branches across the country.

According to them, NAM 1 built special vaults in some of the branches, including the head office located along the N1 Highway near Dzorwulu, and the East Legon branch, because he had the intention of operating a bank and needed the vaults in all the branches of the company.

They also indicated that with information rife that many banks had refused to accept money from Menzgold as deposit, the only option left for NAM 1 was to save those funds in his vaults to be able to serve customers as and when necessary.

The customers said much as they believed that they might not be able to recover all their investments from the embattled CEO, the little left could be saved to distribute to them to ameliorate their pain.

“We collectively have billions with him and we know he cannot send all that out of the country,” one of the customers said in desperation.

According to him, the information from the workers of the company could not be taken for granted because they knew how their CEO operated and what went on in the company.

 “On a daily basis people send millions of Ghana cedis to him and he can only keep them on the premises and so we want the government to act now and fast,” another customer said.

Recovery from banks

The customers also asked the government to move quickly to identify all NAM 1’s accounts with various banks in the country and freeze those accounts immediately.

“What is happening is serious and we want quick action from the government using the legal route to salvage the funds left in the system to be able to pay customers something,” one said.

“For me, we expect the banks holding his money to voluntarily surrender it or any other information about it before customers get to know and do what will be against the law. We are suffering and out of desperation we may be forced to do something in our attempt to recover our money,” another said.

Investigations

The customers said they believed NAM 1 managed to work with some top state officials to launder money out of the country.

To that end, they called for investigations into the matter to identify those culprits for the law to take its course.

According to them, unless he siphoned funds outside the country illegally with the help of some public officials, all the money saved with him should be located within the country and returned to its owners.

“At least we know he has some investments in properties all over. So those should be quickly identified and blocked for sale to recover the money now,” another customer, a woman, said.

Govt hunts for NAM 1

On Monday, a special delegation of security operatives left Accra for Dubai in connection with Nana Mensah’s arrest in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Other members of the delegation left yesterday to gather first-hand information regarding the arrest by Emeriti authorities.

According to a highly placed security source, the delegation was billed to engage the Emeriti authorities.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service has confirmed Nana Mensah’s arrest in Dubai and assured the public that due process will be followed.

A statement signed by the Director-General of the Public Affairs Directorate of the Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr David Eklu, and issued in Accra yesterday said NAM 1 was arrested about five weeks ago by the Dubai Police.

NAM1, according to the statement, was arrested in Dubai to facilitate investigations into suspicions that he had been involved in a gold trading deal gone bad within the Emeriti jurisdiction.