NAM1 released from police custody

The embattled Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, aka NAM1, has been released from police custody after meeting his new bail conditions.

Sources close to the case told the Daily Graphic that Nana Appiah was released around 4 p.m. yesterday following the signing of his bail bond by five individuals at the registry of the Accra Circuit Court.

Earlier on Tuesday, the court varied the bail conditions to allow for five sureties to guarantee his bail without showing evidence of having properties worth the GH¢1 billion bail sum.

The court, presided over by Mrs Jane Harriet Akweley Quaye, varied the bail conditions following an application by Mr Kwame Boafo Akuffo, counsel for Nana Appiah.

It, however, refused a request by the counsel for a reduction of the bail sum from GH¢1 billion to GH¢20 million.

Hitherto, the court had ordered on July 26, 2019 that three of the five sureties showed justification, meaning they must show proof that they had properties or interests worth the GH¢1 billion bail sum.

As part of the bail conditions, the Menzgold CEO was ordered to report to the Ghana Police Service every Wednesday.

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Justification removed

With the court removing the justification aspect of the bail, Nana Appiah – who is standing trial over allegations that he used Menzgold to defraud more than 16,000 persons of about GH¢1.6 billion – only requires five people who are gainfully employed to stand as sureties for him in order to properly execute the bail.

“Under the circumstances, the court removes the justification set as condition for bail, but the bail sum remains the same,” the presiding judge ruled.

Application for variation

Making a case for the variation, Mr Akuffo argued that the court should reduce the bail sum because the amount the prosecution presented as the amount his client had allegedly defrauded the customers of Menzgold of was speculative.

He prayed the court to take into consideration the fact that almost all of his client’s assets had been confiscated by the state, while his stream of income too had been cut off.

The counsel submitted that he had agreed with the prosecutor that a bail sum of GH¢20 million was adequate.

Although the prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sylvester Asare, did not oppose the application, he disagreed with what he described as attempts by Mr Akuffo to set a bail sum for the court.

Not guilty

Prosecutors have accused Nana Appiah, his wife, Ms Rose Tetteh; and his sister, Ms Benedicta Mensah, of using Menzgold as a tool to defraud more than 16,000 people of GH¢1,680,920,000.

The three accused persons – described as the principal officers of Menzgold – along with Menzgold and its sister company, Brew Marketing Consult Limited, both represented by Nana Appiah, have been slapped with 13 counts.

The counts are defrauding by false pretences, abetment to defraud by false pretences, carrying deposit business without licence, abetment of sale of minerals without licence, sale of minerals without licence, abetment to the unlawful deposit-taking, unlawful deposit-taking and money laundering.

Nana Appiah has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His wife and his sister are, however, at large.                         

Prosecution’s facts

The  facts as presented by ASP Asare were that in October 2018, the police received a complaint from about 16,000 people that Menzgold had convinced them to invest GH¢1, 680,920,000 in a gold purchase scheme that yielded 10 per cent monthly interest.

According to him, the complainants said their monies were locked up and they could not find Mensah and the other principal officers of the company.

The prosecutor said investigations revealed that Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult were incorporated as limited liability companies in 2013 and 2016 respectively.

Menzgold, he said, obtained a licence from the Minerals Commission in August 2016 to purchase and export gold from small-scale miners, and that in order to successfully engage in the business, Nana Appiah founded Brew Marketing Consult to be a gold buying agent.

ASP Asare said although Menzgold was licensed to purchase gold, it was not licensed by the Minerals Commission to trade in gold.

Notwithstanding the lack of such a licence, the prosecutor said Menzgold went public after its incorporation and invited the public to deposit money for a fixed period with interest on the pretext of gold purchasing.

The prosecutor said further investigations revealed that the three accused persons were the directors and principal officers of Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult.