SEC, EOCO collaborate to investigate Menzgold

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has told Citi Business News, it is working with the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and the Attorney General to speed up investigations into the operations of Menzgold.

It follows the dismissal of a suit filed against the SEC and Bank of Ghana by gold dealership firm, Menzgold to prevent the two institutions from investigating its operations.

The SEC is yet to announce any action against, Menzgold, after the High Court dismissed the case filed by Menzgold.

“There are a lot of corporation going on with a lot of the parties concerned. We gave EOCO some information and we explained to them where Menzgold was wrong in terms of its interpretation of the law”, a Deputy Director of the Commission, Paul Ababio told Citi Business News in an interview.

Mr. Ababio said the outcome of the investigations will determine his outfit’s next line of action.

“We’ve given EOCO some information, based on the investigations we have, leading up to the court case. At this point there are other things going on that I cannot comment on and the final outcome will be known once things are finalized, “Mr. Ababio explained.

He added that the outcome of the court ruling has vindicated earlier actions by the SEC.

 “We were in communication with them when they just proceeded to court and from there they refused to corporate with our request. In a sense, the court has vindicated us, but they should have corporate with us, Mr. Ababio stressed.

The Chief Executive of Menzgold, Nana Appiah(NAM1) Mensah has since been arrested by Dubai security, days after Police CID issued a warrant for his arrest.

EOCO freezes  NAM 1’s accounts

The Economic and Organized Crime Office, EOCO, froze  the account of Nana Appiah Mensah.

Following the arrest of Nana Appiah Mensah, popularly known as NAM 1 in Dubai,  a delegation from Ghana departed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to engage authorities there on the next line of action.

NAM 1’s case is of particular interest to Ghanaian authorities because an arrest warrant was issued for his detention back home, over his company’s inability to pay hundreds of Ghanaians their investments, in what many suspect to be a ponzi scheme.

The diplomatic engagement has become necessary because there is no existence of an extradition treaty between Ghana and the UAE, that binds them to extradite Mr. Appiah Mensah to Ghana upon request.

There is also no clarity about whether or not NAM 1 traveled on a Ghanaian passport.

Background

Nana Appiah Mensah’s arrest, according to Citi News sources, is not in relation to the scandal in Ghana, in which his company is unable to pay back thousands of customers their investments.

The arrest, which was first reported by the Statesman Newspaper’s online portal, is believed to have occurred after a complaint filed by an individual in that country, who claims to have been duped in a gold deal by Mr. Appiah Mensah.

Already, Ghanaian officials in Ghana’s Embassy in Dubai, are reported to have visited NAM 1 in the custody of the police.

Some unconfirmed reports have suggested that NAM 1 may have been arrested wrongly by his UAE business counterparts.

Back in Ghana, Nana Appiah Mensah has been declared wanted over his company’s inability to pay investors their monies, together with two other directors of the company.

An arrest warrant has been secured to have them brought before the law to answer a charge of defrauding by false pretense.

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By Nana Oye Ankrah/Citibusinessnews.com/Ghana