NAM 1 appeals for time to engage new lawyers

Embattled Chief Executive Officer of defunct gold dealership firm Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, has appealed to the trial judge to grant him “reasonable time” to “scout and engage” new lawyers.

Nana Appiah Mensah, affectionately known as NAM1, said his plea was to afford him the opportunity in “My quest to affirm my innocence” before the court and the global community.

On July 11, 2024, the High Court in Accra presided over by Justice Ernest Owusu Dapaa ordered NAM1 and his two companies to open their defence to charges of some 37 counts after ruling on a submission of no case to answer.

Fast forward, NAM1, who has been charged together with two of his companies- Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult, filed a motion for a stay of proceedings pending an appeal against the order of the High Court on July 11.

On December 5 the High Court dismissed that request for a stay of proceedings and ordered him to comply with the orders of the court on July 11 to open his defence.

When the matter was called on Tuesday, December 17 NAM1, who is also representing his two accused companies, appeared without his lawyers.

NAM1 has in the past been represented by lawyer Kwame Boafo Akuffo.

Asked by the court where his lawyers were, NAM1 pleaded with the court to afford him the opportunity to address the court in his lawyer's absence.

“My lawyer and I have a difference. One that is so fundamental to the extent that it places a point of divergence for us,” NAM1 said in his opening remarks.

Stay of Proceedings

The Director of Public Prosecution, (DPP), Mrs Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa, while reacting to NAM1’s request reminded the court of what had happened so far in the trial and further drew the court’s attention to the accused person's “deliberate” desire not to open their defence.

“Respectfully my lord, when I arrived in court, I was informed by Mr Watkins Adamah, a State Attorney, that he has just been shown an application for a stay of proceedings against the orders of this (High) Court filed at the Court of Appeal today (Tuesday, December 17) at 11:40 a.m,” the DPP pointed out to the court.

She added that Mr Watkins “Was just shown a copy without being given a hard copy and our (AG’s) office has not been served”.

It was the submission of the DPP that, the said application was signed by Kwame Boafo Akuffo (counsel) representing the accused persons and “for all intents and purposes, this can only mean that at the time this application (for Stay of Proceedings) was filed (at the Court of Appeal) it was done on the instructions of the accused persons (NAM1, Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult).”

“The said application in the court of appeals has no return date,” according to the DPP and in her view “It is therefore difficult to place merit on what the first accused (NAM1) has just informed this (High) Court.”

To buttress her point, the DPP said “This is more so when on July 11, 2024, this court gave a ruling on a submission of no case and called upon the accused persons to open their defence.”

She said, “They (accused persons) were further ordered by the court to file witness statements on or before October 16, 2024.”

It is the case of the DPP that on October 16, 2024, “The accused persons failed to file their witnesses statements and this court magnanimously adjourned this case to October 29, 2024.”