The Court of Appeal rejected Nana Appiah Mensah’s request to halt the current criminal proceedings against him on Monday, May 19, dealing him a new legal setback.
An appeal for a stay of proceedings in a criminal case involving 39 accusations that was jointly submitted by NAM1 and his firms, Menzgold Ghana Limited and Brew Marketing Consult, was dismissed by the court.
The charges include deceiving investors, unlawfully accepting deposits, trading in gold without a license, and laundering more than GH₵340 million.
NAM1’s attorneys had requested that the appellate court postpone the trial until the outcome of an appeal against a High Court decision that ordered him to present his defense was decided.
After the High Court’s Financial Division determined that the prosecution had presented a compelling enough case to support a defense, that direction was issued.
State lawyers, however, argued that the request was unfounded and meant just to delay the trial. The legal threshold for a stay of proceedings, they argued, had not been met by NAM1.
Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, Christopher Archer, and Justice Gbiel Suurbaareh comprised the three-member panel that unanimously rejected the application.
This makes it possible for the criminal trial to start again on May 28.
NAM1 told the reporters after the decision that he is still committed to fighting his case.
“We haven’t reached the end. We’ll take advantage of every legal option available, including possibly heading to the Supreme Court,” he said.
The allegations made against NAM1 stem from a gold trading scam that was run through Menzgold from 2016 to 2018.
Prosecutors claim that after convincing more than 16,000 people to invest in the scheme, their money was embezzled for illicit and private commercial purposes.
A number of charges, including fraud, breach of trust, and illicit financial activities, are brought against the businessman and his companies. The case is considered one of the most important financial crime prosecutions in Ghana’s recent history because of the size of the alleged losses and the number of impacted investors.
Source: newsthemegh.com