Lawyers for Menzglod Ghana Limited CEO, Nana Appiah Mensah have written to the government urging it to revoke the Interpol Red Alert order which has caused his continuous detention in the United Arab Emirates.
“Mr. Mensah, a proud Ghanaian, whose priority remains to honor Menzgold Ghana’s payment obligations to all its customers kindly requests that the government of Ghana revoke the Interpol Red Notice with immediate effect,” the letter sighted by Citi News said.
[contextly_sidebar id=”FjQGb4YxGQmxf9SbyqsFYCcaShYSagOF”]Mr. Mensah has been in custody in Dubai since December 7, 2018, amid the controversy over the locked up funds of customers of his company.
He went to the Middle Eastern country in pursuit of 750kgs of gold valued at $39 million after a deal gone bad with a firm called Horizon Royal Diamond.
After three months in detention, Mr. Mensah was first released on $544,500 bail but he was rearrested by Interpol after his release, the lawyers recounted in the letter.
The gold was said to have been fraudulently obtained by Horizon Royal Diamond, according to a court ruling in Dubai.
The company issued fake payment confirmations to Menzgold resulting in the non-payment of the $39 million.
Mr. Mensah’s lawyers have also asked the government to extend consular support to their client to “facilitate the collection of the $39 million awarded in Mr. Mensah’s favour by the Dubai Courts” after legal wrangling with Horizon Royal Diamond.
The lawyers argued that Mr. Mensah’s continued detention “is seriously hampering his efforts in respect of recovering the money from Horizon Royal Diamond.”
Aside from the retrieval attempts, Mr. Mensah’s lawyers said the continued detention of their client “notwithstanding his acquittal, Mr. Mensah, in breach of his international legal and human rights… This detention is based solely on a Red Notice issued by Interpol at the specific documented request of the government of Ghana.”
The lawyers noted that the Red Notice was solely to locate a person of interest.
“Given that the Red Notice was requested by the Government of Ghana while in contact with Mr. Mensah and fully aware of his exact whereabouts, any claimed legal motives for the issuance of the Red Notice are self-evidently questionable.”
After a meeting with the prosecutor for the Interpol case, it was made clear that “it is not possible for him to be released unless the government of Ghana authorities Interpol to revoke the Red Notice.”