The investigator in the trial of Nana Appiah Mensah alias NAM1, the CEO of defunct Menzgold Ghana Limited, has told a High Court in Accra that the accused used celebrities to induce members of the public to invest in his companies which were engaged in illegalities.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Charles Nyarko, their investigations revealed that neither NAM1 nor his companies – Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult were licensed by the Minerals Commission to sell gold or gold products to the general public, indicating that “the accused persons were involved in illegalities from the start.

He also told the court that neither NAM1 nor his companies were authorised by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to take deposits from the general public.

“The accused persons induced the general public that they were authorised to run those businesses. That was not the only inducement, the accused person used celebrities to induce our complainants to invest with A2 and A3 (Menzgold and Brew Marketing),” the investigator told the court.

He mentioned some of the celebrities as Okyeame Kwame, Stonebwoy, Becca, Jackie Appiah and Joselyn Dumas.

“These celebrities were found on billboards of Menzgold with branded Menzgold chips in the catchment area of the second and third accused. My Lord, with this, with careers that these celebrities built for themselves over the period, our complainants fell into this inducement,” DSP Nyarko added.

NAM1 and two of his companies – Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited are facing 39 counts of defrauding by false pretence, inducing members of the public to invest and money laundering.

Funds Transfer

The investigator told the court that per a letter dated January 10, 2019, the police requested information from the Office of the Registrar of Companies on all companies linked to NAM1 and a total of 27 companies were linked to him.

Led in his evidence-in-chief by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, the witness indicated that investigations revealed that Zylofon Media was established as a company solely in the entertainment business, however, NAM1 transferred substantial funds from Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult to Zylofon, totaling GH¢84,480,811.00.

On July 20, 2018, an amount of GH¢2 million was transferred to Zylofon Media, while a total of GH¢26,930,997.00 was transferred from the account of Brew Marketing to Zylofon between March and December 2017.

Another GH¢55,549,814.00 was transferred from the Bank of Africa account of Brew Marketing to Zylofon Media between January and April 2018.

DSP Nyarko states that except for the fact that NAM1 owned Menzgold, Brew Marketing Consult and Zylofon Media, “I found that there was no justifiable reason for the huge transfers from A3 (Brew Consult) to Zylofon.”

The investigator also revealed the transfer of huge sums of money totalling GH¢155,552,141.30 from Brew Consult into the personal account of NAM1.

He gave the breakdown as a transfer of GH¢113,400,000.00 which was paid to NAM1 personally between October 18, 2017 and July 13, 2018.

Between April and December 2017, a total of GH¢23,410,000.00 was transferred from the account of Brew Marketing Consult and withdrawn by NAM1.

Again, the investigator revealed that another GH¢18,742,141.30 was transferred from the account of Brew Consult to NAM1 between January and April 2018.

DSP Nyarko also revealed that between July 11 and August 15, 2018, an amount of GH¢66 million through cheque payments was made to Abigail Mensah, who is the younger sister of NAM1.