Lawyer for the Chief Executive Officer of gold dealership firm, Nana Appiah Mensah, has challenged the State to provide the list of the alleged 16,000 complainants who claimed that they have been defrauded by his client.
According to the charge sheet, Police had claimed they “received petitions from about 16,000 complainants to the effect that the 1st and 2nd accused made a representation and/or invitation through its officers to the public including the complainants to deposit money for a fixed period with interest under the pretext of purchasing gold from the 2nd accused.”
“Upon such representation, the complainants deposited varied sums totalling 1,680,920,000,” the prosecutors stated in the charge sheet.
But NAM1 through his lawyer Kwame Akuffo during the court hearing on Friday indicated that he will demand the state to list all the 16,000 persons who are said to be complainants in the case brought by the state.
According to the lawyer, it is a requirement for an accused person to know his accusers to be able to defend himself.
His comments follow criminal charges taken against NAM1 by the state where prosecution mentioned one Francis Agodzie and 16,000 others as complainants.
The Chief Executive Officer of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, was earlier today granted a GH¢ 1 billion bail by an Accra Circuit court.
He is to present five sureties, three of whom must be justified.
This was after he made a second appearance before the court. NAM1 pleaded not guilty to all charges against him in court.
Kwame Akuffo while praying the court for the bail asked the court to reduce the monetary condition because all his assets had been seized by the State.
Menzgold customers besiege court
Some customers of Menzgold clad in red besieged the premises of the court earlier on Friday.
Background
NAM1 is on trial for 13 counts of abetment to defraud by false pretence and two counts of abetment to carry out banking business without licence, contrary to Section 6 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).
Nana Appiah Mensah arrived in Ghana on July 11, 2019 where he was picked up by security operatives at the Kotoka International Airport and sent to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service for interrogation after spending several months in Dubai in another legal battle.
He was remanded at a previous court hearing.
