Menzgold case: Court dismisses NAM1’s submission of no case, orders him to answer to charges
Embattled Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of defunct Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah popularly known as (NAM1) and his two companies have been ordered to open their Defence to answer to charges in the Menzgold case.
This was after the High Court in Accra dismissed his submission of no case to answer.
The Court ruled that prosecution through its nine witnesses have been able to establish a prima facie evidence against them in 35 out of the 39 counts.
Justice Ernest Owusu-Dapaa, while analyzing the 39 Counts one after the other found as a fact that the Court will need to hear from the accused.
Ruling on a submission of no case to answer to whether NAM1 has a case to answer, the Court said it appears that the accused (NAM1 & Brew Marketing Consult) did not posses a valid license to engage in the sale of purchase of gold.
Consequently, the Court said a prima facie has been established against NAM1 and his companies to answer to the charge of selling gold without license.
On the charge of operating a deposit taking business without a license contrary to sections 6(1) and 22(1) of the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, the Court said, it “find that it appears, at this stage of the prosecution, that Nana Appiah Mensah’s Brew Marketing Consult is UNKNOWN as an entity authorized to sell gold to the general public.”
The Court ruled again that, “NAM1 and Brew Marketing Consult must answer to the charge of ‘Selling gold contrary to section 99(1) of the Minerals and Mining Act’”
The Court also said, evidence before the Court suggest that the Bank of Ghana did not endorse the deposit-taking business of NAM1 and Menzgold and NAM1 will need to offer explanations to the Court.
On the charge of Inducement to invest, the Court ruled that using ‘beautiful’ celebrities on billboards like – Stone Bwoy, Becca, Joycelyn Dumas and Jackie Appiah appears to influence public to invest in Menzgold & Brew Marketing.
Justice Ernest Owusu Dapaa while ordering NAM1 and his two companies to answer to 19 Counts of defrauding by false presences, acquitted him on the remaining after prosecution had abandoned three counts because of the unavailability of those victims.
The Court has also ordered the accused to open his Defence to seven counts of fraudulent breach of trust after holding the view that, Prosecution was able to establish a case against him and his companies to answer.
The Court also ordered that NAM1 opens his Defence to the seven Counts of Money Laundering contrary to statutes.
EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah is reporting that, the effect of the ruling is that NAM1 and his companies are to answer to two charges.
The case has been adjourned to July 23, 2024.
Background
NAM1 pleaded not guilty to 39 counts of fresh charges Ms was granted bail in the sim of GHc500k with four sureties without justification.
The bail terms also include an order for him to deposit his passport at the Registry of the Court and report to the CID headquarters every Thursday.
NAM1, who was also representing Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult, the other two accused persons, earlier said “My Lord, I’m not guilty” as he responds to charges.
The 39 counts comprised of a count each of selling gold contrary to section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703, Operating a deposit-taking business without a license contrary to section (1) and 22 (1) of the Banking and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930) and Inducement to invest contrary to section 344 of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992),
The others include 22 counts of Defrauding by false pretense contrary to section 131 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), seven counts of fraudulent breach of trust contrary to section 128 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and seven counts if Money Laundering contrary to section 1(2)(a)(i) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044).
Brief facts
Per 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 Comsult 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 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 license.
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 states that, the business module of NAM1 was that Brew Marketing Consult sold gold/gold collectibles/ gold ore to the public for the purpose of investing same in Menzgold, when Brew Marketing Consult did not have a license 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 license 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 license 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 One billion, sixty hundred and eighty million, nine hundred and twenty thousand Ghana cedis (GH$1,680,920,000) 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 Al.
“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.
