Hope for Menzgold customers as EOCO seizes NAM1 mansions, cars

It appears all hope is not lost for individuals whose funds are reportedly locked up with embattled gold collectibles firm Menzgold Ghana Limited.

This is because the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) is said to be making headway in tracking properties of the company, including those of its beleaguered Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nana Appiah Mensah, popularly called NAM1.

According to DAILY GUIDE’s sources at EOCO, the anti-graft body has managed to secure over 40 luxurious cars and a number of mansions belonging to NAM1 which could possibly be sold to settle his indebtedness to his customers.

Sources say EOCO has chosen to take a swift action because it does not want any would-be claimants to start protesting that the properties in question belong to them.

This revelation comes at a time when EOCO has frozen the bank accounts of NAM1 and is said to be making frantic efforts to trace his other assets.

The accounts, said to be with three different banks, have been frozen on January 14, 2019.

EOCO has appealed to the public to volunteer further information that will lead to the discovery of other properties of NAM1.

‘Sell My Properties’

A deep-throat source at EOCO disclosed that NAM1, prior to his trip to Dubai on December 7, 2018, pleaded with EOCO to sell his properties to pay the customers.

The source said the embattled CEO made the plea last year when he was invited by the anti-graft body following complaints lodged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against him.

He was invited specifically by EOCO for an alleged misdemeanor in breach of the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institution Act 2016, Act 930.

Court Order

EOCO, according to sources, is however unable to sell the properties to help settle Menzgold’s indebtedness to its customers because it does not have a court order to back its action.

It said that an expressed court order was required to help quickly sell off the seized mansions and cars.

NAM1, as he is popularly known, reportedly left Ghana in December 2018 to ‘chase’ a $31 million owed him, but was later arrested in the United Arabs Emirates (UAE) over an alleged scandalous $51 million deal involving an Emirati firm named Horizon Royal Diamonds.

According to Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, Deputy Attorney General, NAM1 was arrested in Dubai on December 7, 2018 in connection with the alleged fraud case.

Mr. Kpemka led a Ghanaian security delegation to the UAE to meet NAM1 recently.

Clarity On Court Case

Meanwhile, EOCO has reiterated that NAM1 shall make his court appearance in Dubai either on 3rd or 4th February 2019.

EOCO and the Ghana Police Service, in a joint statement signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and Director-General of the Public Affairs Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, David Eklu upon their return, indicated that NAM1 was due to appear in court on February 2, 2019.

But it has turned out that February 2, 2019 would fall on a Saturday when courts do not work in Dubai.

Background

DAILY GUIDE has gleaned from close associates of NAM1 that the investment of some 46,000 individuals are believed to be locked up with Menzgold.

The woes of Menzgold began after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in a letter dated September 7, 2018, directed it to suspend its gold trading operations with the public.

SEC, at the time, said the directive was based on the fact that Menzgold had been dealing in the purchase and deposit of gold collectibles from the public and issuing contracts with guaranteed returns with clients without a valid licence from the Commission.

The regulatory agency averred that the move was in contravention of Section 109 of Act 929 with consequences under section 2016 (I) of the same Act.