Court date of Menzgold Boss set for February 2 in Dubai

The embattled Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah, (NAM1), who is facing charges of misdemeanor in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), would rather make his next court appearance either on the 3rd or 4th of February 2019.

A source at the Economic and Organised Crime Organisation (EOCO) told the Ghana News Agency when it sought to clarify why February 2, which was a Saturday, had been fixed for his court appearance, as stated in the joint statement, issued on January 18, by the EOCO and the Ghana Police Service.

The source said though February 2 was the exact date given by the Emirati Police to the fact-finding Ghanaian security and legal delegation, it had also been explained that under the laws of UAE, an accused person was supposed to appear in court following the expiration of his or her remand date.

“Nana Appiah Mensah’s remand date expires on February 2, and as it is a Saturday, he is likely to go to Court on February 3rd or February 4th,” he explained.

Since the working week in the Emirates starts on Sunday and ends on Thursday, it came as a surprise to some analysts that he would appear in court on a Saturday, which is not a working day.

Thousands of Ghanaians are anguished over the possible loss of their investments, estimated at millions of Ghana cedis in Menzgold, whose gold dealership business was unregulated, and thus was directed by the Security and Exchange Commission to stop receiving new deposits.

The company, which was paying at least eight per cent in monthly interest rates on investments, has for months been unable to pay its customers their returns or principal.

Menzgold’s boss was reportedly arrested when he went to collect his money from a Dubai Company in a gold transaction there, involving about 51 million dollars.

This came to light after the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service secured a warrant of arrest from an Accra Circuit court on Wednesday, January 9, for his arrest on charges of defrauding by false pretences and money laundering.

This was preceded by media reports that he had violated the terms of the bail granted by the Bureau of National Investigations, which was investigating him and he could not be traced

According to EOCO, though it was also investigating Menzgold for a possible breach of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institution Act, 2016, (Act 930) as reported to it by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), there was a lack of cooperation on the side of its boss.

However, the fact-finding delegation have said the Emirati authorities would make Nana Appiah Mensah available to their Ghanaian counterparts upon the final determination of his case.

Meanwhile, they have said, he cooperated with the delegation and provided the security and legal officers an extensive statement to assist in their investigations into the Menzgold saga for the requisite action to be taken.

The January 18 statement, which was jointly signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) David Eklu, the Director-General of the Public Affairs Directorate of the Ghana Police Service and Mr Abu Issah, acting Head of the Legal and Prosecution outfit of EOCO, pledged the resolve of the two bodies to continue their investigations and processes to bring a resolution to the matter.