Chief Executive of Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah, has touched down in Accra from Dubai after spending about six months in custody in the United Arab Emirates for alleged criminal offences.
He was whisked away from the Kotoka International Airport by operatives of the Criminal Investigations Department to the Police headquarters where he is undergoing interrogation.
Our correspondent Selorm Amenya reported he touched down in Accra at exactly 10:45am Thursday aboard an Emirate flight.
“Initially they tried using the VIP lounge but they diverted to use the entrance near the Aviation Social Centre in four different vehicles,” he reported.
Our correspondent reported the the detectives tried to conceal NAM1’s identity.
The embattled chief executive is being interrogated by the Financial Forensic Unit of the Police CID.
“His lawyer Kwame Akuffo has just arrived at the Police headquarters,” our correspondent reported
NAM1 was facing misdemeanor charges in the UAE, but was acquitted and discharged in April by the Emirati court.
A number of Ghanaians, especially customers of the defunct gold dealership company whose huge sums of investments have locked, have since been pushing for the government and the Police CID to cause NAM1’s extradition to Ghana.
He eventually landed at the Kotoka International Airport Thursday but was arrested in connection with….
Police on Friday, January 9 declared NAM1 wanted as they secured a warrant for his arrest triggering an Interpol red alert at a time that the whereabouts of the man was unknown.
“We are looking for him [Nana Appiah Mensah] to be arrested and that we have even obtained a warrant of arrest,” Director of the Police CID, DCOP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, said in a statement on the same day.
Government later announced NAM1 was being held in custody in Dubai for criminal offence arising out of his business deals with a Dubai-based company Horizon Royal Diamond.
The police was forced to secure the warrant following a series of protests from aggrieved customers of Menzgold across the country who had been demanding a refund of their investments running into millions of dollars.
Background
The Bank of Ghana in August last year issued a public notice that Menzgold Ghana Limited is not licensed and has no authority to engage in the solicitation, receipt of money or investments and the payment of dividends or returns to its clients which is captured in Section 6 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).
It also hinted of impending sanctions, saying after several cautions to Menzgold, it has started discussions with relevant regulatory authorities to sanction them for breaching the law.
Though Menzgold called the bluff of the central bank, it was forced to shut down in September 2018 by the SEC.
As part of the shutdown notice, the firm was ordered not to take new contracts (investments).
SEC claimed evaluation of Menzgold’s documentations show the company does not have the licences to trade in gold, and that, its operations are in breach of Act 929 “as well as a threat to unsuspecting and uninformed investors”.
The company has since been in tango with SEC as well as customers and investors who are demanding their returns and investments.
But when the issues appeared to have escalated due to pressure from the customers, Nana Appiah Mensah run to parliament with a petition to intervene so the company can resume operations and pay its customers.
The company pleaded with the House to particularly intervene in the impasse between it and the SEC, which the company claimed has caused delays in paying its customers interest on their investments.
The company claimed in the petition to the Finance Committee of Parliament that the complete shutdown of its gold collectible vault by SEC has “caused a lot of serious challenges for the company and its customers [both local and foreign]”.
Accordingly, the firm wants parliament to “intervene and help resolve this matter amicably”.
By 3news.com|Ghana