The Head of Chambers at The Law Office of Clinton Consultancy, Amanda Akuokor Clinton, has expressed her confidence in the Attorney General’s ability to pursue the newly filed charges against the Chief Executive of the now-defunct gold dealership firm Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah.
The Attorney General has levied 36 charges against Nana Appiah Mensah, also known as NAM 1, which include abetment, defrauding by false pretences, operating a deposit-taking business without a license, engaging in unlawful deposit-taking, money laundering, and others.
This represents a reduction from the initial 61 charges that were filed against him.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, September 2, the lawyer said “there is a lot of hope, I think we have a relatively new AG who is trying to distinguish himself from other AGs.
“So, hopefully that will push him to make a mark, and one of the ways is through a high profile case such as this.”
Amanda Akuokor Clinton acknowledged that the Attorney General’s filing of new charges against Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM 1) came somewhat belatedly, considering the three-year duration of the case. However, she praised the Attorney General for elevating the case from the Circuit Court to the High Court.
She expressed her belief that the reduction in the number of charges to 36 is indicative of the Attorney General’s genuine intent to pursue the case.
“I do commend the Attorney General’s Department for at least saying they were very much investigating the matter,” she added.
She emphasized that in the money laundering case, the Attorney General can take further steps as it suggests that Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM 1) was involved in the process of legitimizing ill-gotten funds through his business.
Furthermore, she urged the Attorney General to collaborate with countries that NAM 1 frequently visited to trace and recover assets he may have in those nations. This action is aimed at facilitating the restitution of some of the money to the aggrieved customers.
The Attorney General initiated the prosecution of NAM 1 in 2019, accusing him of defrauding numerous customers through his gold dealership firm, resulting in losses amounting to millions of cedis.
The case has experienced several adjournments, and new charges were filed on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.
The decision to file new charges followed Mr. Appiah Mensah’s announcement of plans to release locked-up funds to Menzgold customers upon a payment of approximately GH₵650 for verification.
Subsequently, he reversed this decision, eliminating the requirement for former clients to purchase a verification Access Card following significant public and customer backlash.
“Menzgold would cease the production and printing of the PVC Digital Access Cards, which imposes a cost burden,” the defunct company said in a communique.
The company said it is resorting to “the printing of the PIN Codes only, for onward distribution at no cost subject to the following conditions, that; Clients with INVALID status may choose to either walk away or still in the face of the one or several of the 10 invalidity status reasons provided, adamantly proceed to seek redress or review of the invalidity determination, which shall come at a fee to avoid the abuse of our time, human and logistics resources.”