The Adentan Circuit Court in Accra has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM1), the Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Menzgold, and two others for allegedly defrauding some persons.
The warrant was issued by the court after the accused failed to appear in court.
The court ordered the accused who had failed to appear before it on Tuesday, November 2, 2021, to appear today, Thursday.
According to the prosecution, who obtained the arrest order, NAM1 and the two others turned down several Police invitations.
Meanwhile, Yaw Dankwah, the lawyer for the three accused men, told the media after the court hearings that his clients should have been physically served with the criminal summons.
“They have never been arrested. They have never been cautioned, yet the police have come to court with four counts of charges again them,” Mr. Dankwah complained.
He said that they were taken off guard by the allegations on Tuesday and had requested a two-week adjournment of the case.
However, Mr. Dankwah said that the judge denied his plea and gave them till today [Thursday] to appear in court.
“Unfortunately, they could not. They are out of the city,” he said.
It is unclear if the warrant is linked to Menzgold’s collapse.
Mr. Appiah Mensah had previously been charged with 13 charges of defrauding by false pretenses, money laundering, aiding and abetting, and carrying on deposit-taking business without a license in violation of Section 6 (1) of the Banks Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions Act, 2016. (Act 930).
This came after he was charged with defrauding 16,000 clients out of GHS 1.68 billion.
Menzgold’s collapse
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested that Menzgold halt its gold trading activities with the general public in 2018.
Menzgold was accused of engaging in the purchase and deposit of gold collections from the general public, as well as offering contracts with guaranteed returns to customers without a proper Commission license.
However, the corporation was permitted to continue its other operations, which included assaying, acquiring gold from small-scale miners, and exporting gold.
Despite initial protests, Menzgold complied with the directive.
Over two years later, the firm has yet to properly compensate its dissatisfied clients for the value of their gold reserves and total investments.
Read Also: The police have the authority to arrest Sosu – Bentil
