Menzgold Case: State Prosecutors close case in NAM1 trial over GHc340M customers funds

State prosecutors have closed their case in the case in which Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah, is standing trial for defrauding customers in the sum of over GH₵340 million.

This was after lawyers of Nana Appiah Mensah, also known as NAM1 concluded their cross examination of ASP Charles Nyarko, the investigator who was the 8th prosecution witness in the ongoing trial.

Following the conclusion of cross examination by counsel for the accused, State prosecutors led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa said “This is our last witness and we close our case.”

On December 20, 2023, the trial officially began with Stephen Attopoe, a Civil Engineer called by the prosecution, as the first witness.

Subsequently, the prosecution called Edward Otu Larbi, a sales Manager (PW2), Rose Ocran, a businesswoman (PW3), Benjamin Baffoe, a miner (PW4), Priscilla Adu Boateng, a trader (PW5), Fred Odame Asiedu,a businessman (PW6), Mrs. Rose Ocran, a businesswoman (PW7) and ASP Charles Nyarko, the investigator as PW8.

On March 26, 2024, the prosecution closed case with the investigator, ASP Charles Nyarko as the 8th witness. The had initially wanted to call 11 witnesses but reduced it to eight.

The High Court in Accra, presided over by Justice Ernest Owusu Dapaa, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting as an additional High Court judge has since ordered defence lawyer Kwame Boafo Akuffo to file his submission of no case by April 15, following his indication to file a submission of no case for his clients.

The prosecution, on the other hand, has until May 6, 2024, to file their reply to the submission of no case.

Justice Owusu-Dapaa, has also said the parties would be given 20 minutes each to highlight the key points on May 14.

Not guilty

NAM1 and two of his companies – Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited, have been charged with 39 counts of selling gold without licence, operating a deposit-taking business, inducement to invest, defrauding by false pretence, fraudulent breach of trust and money laundering.

The allegations leveled against them relate to them defrauding their customers various sums of monies between 2016 and 2018, totaling GH¢340,835,650.

NAM1 has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and is on a bail of a GH¢500 million with four sureties.

Brief facts

The brief fact states that, the 2nd accused person (A2), Menzgold Ghana Limited and the 3rd accused person (A3), Brew Marketing Consult Limited, are sister companies owned by the 1st accused person (A1), Nana Appiah Mensah alias NAM1.

It added that, Menzgold was first registered as Menzbank Ghana Company Limited in 2013, whereas Brew Marketing Consult Limited was registered in December 2016.

It said, NAM1 is a director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult and also a majority shareholder of both companies.

It stated that NAM1 operated Menzgold as a deposit-taking business under the guise of gold trading, without the requisite licence.

BoG public notice

According to the Prosecution, on March 11, 2015, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) issued a public notice to the effect that Menzbank was an unlicensed deposit- taking institution.

It said, NAM1, in a bid to circumvent the notice of BoG, changed the company’s name from Menzbank to Menzbanc.

It explained that, sometime in 2017, NAM1 further changed the company’s name from Menzbank to Menzgold Ghana Company
Limited.

The facts state that, the business module of NAM1 was that Brew Marketing Consult sold gold/gold collectibles/gold dore to
the public for the purpose of investing same in Menzgold, when Brew Marketing Consult did not have a licence to sell gold.

Breach of restrictions

The prosecution stated that, on August 22, 2016, the Minerals Commission, granted Menzgold a-three-year license to purchase and export gold.

It said, the terms of the licence stipulated that Brew Marketing Consult was to purchase gold from small-scale miners for export only.

The brief facts stated that, Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult breached its restricted gold purchase and exportation licence by selling gold to persons in Ghana.

It said, in 2016, NAM1 and Menzgold established what they called gold vault market which provided the public with a platform to trade in gold and gold collectibles.

It added that, NAM1 and Menzgold, in an attempt to circumvent the requirements of the law, set up Brew Marketing Consult for the purposes of selling gold to the public to enable A2 to take the gold deposits.

The prosecution stated that, between 2017 and 2018, NAM1 and Menzgold invited members of the public to purchase gold and gold collectibles from Brew Marketing Consult and deposit same with Menzgold.

It explained that, in various forms of invitations, the accused persons representing Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult as deposit-taking businesses, invited the members of the public to deposit purchased gold and gold collectibles with Menzgold in return for profits ranging from 7% to 10%.

Over 16, 000 complainants

It said, in response to this invitation, over 16,000 members of the public deposited huge sums of money with the expectation that they were dealing with an authorized deposit- taking business which would guarantee them the returns as advertised by the accused persons.

It said, Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult, continued with their operations despite several engagements and warning notices issued by the relevant agencies.

The prosecution stated that, subsequently, members of the public started facing challenges either with delayed payments or reduced dividends; a number of cheques issued by NAM1 and Menzgold were also dishonoured.

It said, on September 7, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directed Menzgold to suspend its business for operating without a license from the SEC.

Petition

It said, between November 2016 and March 2019, many customers of the accused persons petitioned the police complaining that they had invested huge sums of money with the accused persons but were unable to realize their investments after persistent efforts by them.

The prosecution stated that, investigations revealed that the accused persons under false pretenses took a total sum of GH¢340,835,650 from their customers which these customers have not recovered.

“Investigations further disclosed that between 2017 and 2018, the accused persons transferred huge sums of depositor’s funds from Menzgold Ghana Company Ltd. and Brew Marketing Consult Ltd to Zylofon Media, a company related to A1.

“Huge sums of money were also withdrawn by Al or transferred into his bank account for his personal use.

“Investigations have established that
the money fraudulently obtained from depositors and dishonestly appropriated by the accused persons remained
unpaid as Menzgold Ghana Company Ltd.’s license was revoked.

“In the course of investigations, a number of vehicles were recovered from the accused persons which have been auctioned, and the proceeds kept in an exhibit account. Some gold bars were also recovered from the accused persons,” the brief facts stated.