The Economic and Organized Crime Office, EOCO, has frozen some accounts of embattled Chief Executive Officer of gold dealership firm, Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, popularly known as NAM1.
Citi News sources at EOCO say accounts belonging to Menzgold and other related businesses owned by Nana Appiah Mensah, who has an arrest warrant on his head, are also being fished out to be frozen.
EOCO in the coming days, will be applying for a court order, to freeze all landed properties belonging to the CEO and his firms, and has thus directed all of its regional directors to look out for such assets in the various regions where Menzgold and its related businesses operate.
According to Citi News’ Sixtus Dong Ullo, EOCO is also liaising with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, DVLA, to identify all vehicles belonging to NAM1 and his businesses, and confiscate same.
Following the arrest of Nana Appiah Mensah, popularly known as NAM 1 in Dubai, a delegation from Ghana departed on Monday night to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to engage authorities there on the next line of action.
NAM 1’s case is of particular interest to Ghanaian authorities because an arrest warrant has been issued for his detention back home, over his company’s inability to pay hundreds of Ghanaians their investments, in what many suspect to be a ponzi scheme.
The diplomatic engagement has become necessary because there is no existence of an extradition treaty between Ghana and the UAE, that binds them to extradite Mr. Appiah Mensah to Ghana upon request.
There is also no clarity about whether or not NAM 1 traveled on a Ghanaian passport.
The Ghanaian delegation constitutes personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, as well as the Attorney General’s office.
These decisions were taken after a crucial meeting of security chiefs attended by the National Security Minister, Kan Dapaah in Accra.
Confirmation of NAM 1’s arrest
The Ghana Police Service on Monday confirmed earlier reports by Citi News that the Menzgold CEO is under arrest in Dubai.
The statement however revealed that, NAM 1 was arrested as far as 7th December 2018.
According to the Ghana Police Service, they were informed about the arrest of Nana Appiah Mensah by Emirati officials based in Dubai on Sunday, 13th January.
The clarification from the police follows conflicting media reports about whether NAM 1 has been arrested or not.
His arrest according to the Police statement, is to facilitate investigation into claims that he had been involved in a scandalous gold trading deal in Dubai.
In a statement signed by the Director-General of the Public Affairs, ACP David Eklu, the Ghana Police Service said it is engaging authorities in Dubai on the next steps since there’s already a warrant for his arrest in Ghana.
The Police service further assured the public that due processes will be followed to bring closure on this matter.
Background
Nana Appiah Mensah’s arrest, according to Citi News sources, is not in relation to the scandal in Ghana, in which his company is unable to pay back thousands of customers their investments.
The arrest, which was first reported by the Statesman Newspaper’s online portal, is believed to have occurred after a complaint filed by an individual in that country, who claims to have been duped in a gold deal by Mr. Appiah Mensah.
Already, Ghanaian officials in Ghana’s Embassy in Dubai, are reported to have visited NAM 1 in the custody of the police.
Some unconfirmed reports have suggested that NAM 1 may have been arrested wrongly by his UAE business counterparts.
Back in Ghana, Nana Appiah Mensah has been declared wanted over his company’s inability to pay investors their monies, together with two other directors of the company.
An arrest warrant has been secured to have them brought before the law to answer a charge of defrauding by false pretense.
–
By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie|citineswsroom.com|Ghana
