Chief Executive Officer of the defunct gold dealership firm Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah, and his two companies (Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult), have been ordered by the High Court in Accra to file their proposed evidence, including audio-visual recordings, by July 6.
The order of the Court, presided over by Justice Sedinam Awo Kwadam, followed two separate applications moved by lawyers for the accused persons who are standing trial for allegedly defrauding customers of their funds.
As part of the orders, Justice Kwadam also granted NAM1 leave to file a supplementary witness statement and any other proposed evidence he may wish to.
The Court gave the directives after the Prosecution, led by Watkins Adamah, a Senior State Attorney, did not oppose the grant of the request.
Justice Awo Kwadam, following the orders, adjourned the case to July 6, 2026 for the purpose of a Case Management Conference.
The Court has also taken subsequent firm dates for the trial to continue.
The embattled CEO of the defunct Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah, popularly known as NAM1 (A1), and his two companies – Menzgold Ghana Limited (A2) and Brew Marketing Consult (A3) – are answering questions on 35 out of 39 counts of charges in the Menzgold case.
NAM1 has pleaded not guilty to charges including selling gold without a license, operating a deposit-taking business without a licence, inducement to invest, 19 counts of defrauding by false pretences, seven counts of fraudulent breach of trust, and gold laundering contrary to statute.
Witness statement
Paa Joy Akuamoah Boateng, Counsel representing NAM1 (First Accused) and Menzgold (Second Accused), said their application was filed on June 3.
“We have invoked your jurisdiction to extend time for the 1st and 2nd Accused persons to file Witness Statements and for further leave to file a supplementary Witness Statement for the 1st Accused Person.
“We move in terms of the Motion paper, the supporting affidavit, and we rely on the averments therein and pray that the said application finds favour with the Court,” Counsel prayed.
Mr Adamah, the Assistant State Attorney, while not opposing the application, pointed to some factual errors in the Applicants’ motion.
“Respectfully, I wish to point to paragraph 5 of their affidavit in support to say that the orders to file disclosures or Witness Statements were made on 11th July, 2024 and not 11 May, 2026,” he argued.
While making reference to paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Applicants’ processes, he said, “it is noted that 1st and 2nd Applicants have prayed for ‘some few days’ with the assurance of getting all the necessary processes to file.”
“Indeed, it is confirmed in their paragraph 9 when they stated, ‘fortunately we now have a lot of them.’
“We pray that, in allowing the Application and mindful of the history of this case, the Court will grant them just a few days as prayed,” he submitted.
Second motion
For the second, a notice of motion for an order extending the time within which to file the Witness Statements of A3 and other witnesses of A3.
“The application was filed on 3rd June 2026. We move in terms of the motion paper and the supporting affidavit and pray that this Honourable Court makes an order extending the time within which to file the said witness statements,” Counsel prayed.
Again, the Prosecution did not oppose the grant of an extension of time to the 3rd Accused (Brew Marketing Consult), Applicant, to file Witness Statements and other disclosure materials.
That notwithstanding, he said, “it is to be noted again that paragraph 4 of the affidavit in support makes reference to 11th May 2026.”
“We wish to put on record that the order of the Court to file Witness Statements and other disclosure materials was issued on 11th July, 2024. It is also noted that the Applicant has not indicated the number of witnesses they intend to file Witness Statements for,” Counsel for the Prosecution submitted.
He recounted that, at the last Court sitting, the Court reminded all the Applicants (Accused Persons) that the order to file Witness Statements and other materials was still subsistent and there was no bar on them to file their processes if they were minded to do so before appearing today for the Motion to be heard.
He added that, “as at this morning I had not been served with any processes filed at the instance of the Applicants other than the processes filed on 3rd June, 2026 and when we last appeared before this Court.”
By Court
After hearing submissions on both applications by the parties, Justice Awo Kwadam granted the two Applications.
Per the terms granted, the Court said the Accused Persons shall file all their respective proposed evidence, including audio-visuals, for purposes of a Case Management Conference to be conducted.
The Court also granted NAM1 leave to file a supplementary witness statement and any other proposed evidence he may wish to.
These, the Court said, should be filed by all the three accused persons (NAM1, Menzgold, and Brew Marketing) by July 6, 2026.
Meanwhile, the Court has taken a series of dates to continue with the trial by way of NAM1 mounting defence to the charges – July 13, 17, 23, 28, and 29, 2026.
Brief facts
Per the brief fact states that, the 2nd accused person (A2), Menzgold Ghana Limited and the 3rd accused person (A3), Brew Marketing Consult Limited, are sister companies owned by the 1st accused person (A1), Nana Appiah Mensah alias NAM1.
It added that, Menzgold was first registered as Menzbank Ghana Company Limited in 2013 whereas Brew Marketing Comsult Limited was registered in December 2016.
It said, NAM1 is a director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult and also majority shareholder of both companies.
It stated that NAM1 operated Menzgold as a deposit-taking business under the guise of gold trading, without the requisite licence.
BoG public notice
According to the Prosecution, on March 11, 2015, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) issued a public notice to the effect that Menzbank was an unlicensed deposit- taking institution.
It said, NAM1, in a bid to circumvent the notice of BoG, changed the company’s name from Menzbank to Menzbanc.
It explained that, sometime in 2017, NAM1 further changed the company’s name from Menzbank to Menzgold Ghana Company Limited.
The facts states that, the business module of NAM1 was that Brew Marketing Consult sold gold/gold collectibles/ gold dore to the public for the purpose of investing same in Menzgold, when Brew Marketing Consult did not have a licence to sell gold.
Breach of restrictions
The Prosecution stated that, on August 22, 2016, the Minerals Commission, granted Menzgold a-three-year licence to purchase and export gold.
It said, the terms of the licence stipulated that Brew Marketing Consult was to purchase gold from small-scale miners for export only.
The brief facts stated that, Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult breached its restricted gold purchase and exportation licence by selling gold to persons in Ghana.
It said, in 2016, NAM1 and Menzgold established what they called gold vault market which provided the public with a platform to trade in gold and gold collectibles.
It added that, NAM1 and Menzgold, in an attempt to circumvent the requirements of the law, set up Brew Marketing Consult for the purposes of selling gold to the public to enable A2 to take the gold deposits.
The Prosecution stated that, between 2017 and 2018, NAM1 and Menzgold invited members of the public to purchase gold and gold collectibles from Brew Marketing Consult and deposit same with Menzgold.
It explained that, in various forms of invitations, the accused persons representing Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult as deposit-taking businesses, invited the members of the public to deposit purchased gold and gold collectibles with Menzgold in return for profits ranging from 7% to 10%.
Over 16, 000 complainants
It said, in response to this invitation, over 16,000 members of the public deposited huge sums of money with the expectation that they were dealing with an authorised deposit- taking business which would guarantee them the returns as advertised by the accused persons.
It said, Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult, continued with their operations despite several engagements and warning notices issued by the relevant agencies.
The Prosecution stated that, subsequently, members of the public started facing challenges either with delayed payments or reduced dividends; anumber of cheques issued by NAM1 and Menzgold were also dishonoured.
It said, on September 7, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directed Menzgold to suspend its business for operating without a licence from the SEC.
Petition
It said, between November 2016 and March 2019, many customers of the accused persons petitioned the police complaining that they had invested huge sums of money with the accused persons but were unable to realise their investments after persistent efforts by them.
The prosecution stated that, investigations revealed that the accused persons under false pretences took a total sum of One billion, sixty hundred and eighty million, nine hundred and twenty thousand Ghana cedis (GH$1,680,920,000) from their customers which these customers have not recovered.
“Investigations further disclosed that between 2017 and 2018, the accused persons transferred huge sums of depositor’s funds from Menzgold Ghana Company Ltd. and Brew Marketing Consult Ltd to Zylofon Media, a company related to A1.
“Huge sums of money were also withdrawn by Al or transferred into his bank account for his personal use.
“Investigations have established that the money fraudulently obtained from depositors and dishonestly appropriated by the accused persons remained unpaid as Menzgold Ghana Company Ltd.’s licence was revoked.
“In the course of investigations, a number of vehicles were recovered from the accused personswhich have been auctioned, and the proceeds kept in an exhibit account. Some gold bars were also recovered from the accused persons,” the brief facts stated.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
