The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, has stated that there's the need for state agencies to be proactive in their dealings in ensuring that Ponzi schemes such as Menzgold do not operate and thrive in the country.

She said when the Menzgold scheme started, the relevant state agencies ought to have picked the right intel on it and stopped it right from the early stages.

According to her, allowing people to get away with schemes of this nature will embolden others to follow suit.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, September 2, she urged authorities of state agencies to ensure that “they do not allow some of these wicked schemes to manifest themselves in our society.”

According to her, the NAM 1 case is one of the saddest the country is contending with.

“Unfortunately, some people have paid so this should be a ground for them to hold him accountable.”

The Executive Director of GII, therefore, charged the Attorney General to ensure that the customers who have been duped as a result get their monies refunded.

Read also: https://myjoyonline.com/nam-1-slapped-with-new-charges-hearing-set-for-september-19/

In 2019, the Attorney General commenced the prosecution of NAM 1 where he was accused of defrauding thousands of customers through his gold dealership firm over millions of cedis.

The case has witnessed a number of adjournments until fresh charges were filed on Wednesday, August 30, 2023 by the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame.

NAM 1 will be facing 36 counts of offences including abetment, defrauding by false pretences, carrying on deposit-taking business without license, unlawful deposit-taking, money laundering among others.

This is a reduction from the initial 61 charges brought against him.

The new charges come after Mr Appiah Mensah announced plans to release locked-up funds to Menzgold customers after a payment of roughly GH₵650 for verification.

Read also: https://myjoyonline.com/menzgold-saga-nam-1-backtracks-on-ghs650-for-validation-repayment-plan/

Subsequently, he reversed the decision that will require former clients to purchase a verification Access Card in order to verify transactions and validate claims following strong backlash from his customers and the public.

“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.”