NAM 1 will be extradited with ease – Antwi-Danso

An international relations expert, Dr Vladmir Antwi Danso, has said the extradition of the embattled CEO of troubled gold dealership firm, Menzgold Ghana Limited, would not face any hurdles despite the nonexistence of a treaty between Ghana and the United Arab Emirates.

This follows the confirmation by the Ghanaian authorities and the police of the arrest of Mr Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM1) in Dubai over a month ago, on 7 December 2018, for his involvement in what the police have described as a “gold deal gone bad” in the Middle Eastern country.

The government of Ghana has sent a high-powered delegation to Dubai to engage with officials there for the extradition of NAM1, who has been accused of fraud back home as far as the gold vault market operations of his company are concerned.

Thousands of clients of the company have had their investments locked up since August 2018 after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shut down Menzgold’s gold collectibles business over regulatory infractions.

NAM1 was recently declared a wanted man by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and a warrant was issued for his arrest together with his wife and sister, who are also directors of the company.

However, concerns have been raised about the extradition process due to the absence of a treaty. But Dr Antwi-Danso believes NAM1 will come back without any major constraints.

Speaking to Benjamin Akakpo on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM, Dr Antwi-Danso said: “In most instances, countries sign bilateral agreements if they have not accented to an international multilateral agreement. Extradition is mostly bilateral and if Ghana and the Emirates have such a bilateral relationship, then it is not difficult at all for extradition...”

“In this case, the organisations must talk to each other and I think institutions are already in Dubai making things ready for him to get extradited”, Dr Antwi-Danso said, adding: “Our security agencies are also involved very seriously, and it means we’ve had some kind of links with the security agencies of the Emirates and, therefore, it's not going to be any fight at all; he is going to come home.”