NAM1 fights bench warrant

Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM1), the Chief Executive Officer of the now-defunct gold dealership company, MenzGold Ghana Limited, has directed his lawyers to appeal against a bench warrant issued for his arrest.

The Adentan Circuit Court in Accra issued the warrant on Thursday, 4 November 2021 for the arrest of the businessman and two others for allegedly defrauding some people after they failed to appear in court over the matter.

A statement issued by NAM1’s lawyers said the “case concerns the purchase and acquisition of three vehicles, of which one has been paid for”.

The payment of the two other vehicles, the statement noted, “is outstanding due to some irreconcilable issues”.

It continued: “The buyers, Iddrisu Haruna and William Tekpor, together with the sellers, Basit Haruna and Michael Nii Coffie, who are the main parties to the contract, are surprisingly missing in the claim before the court”.

The statement added: “Instead, Elikem Akakpo, the complainant (who is not a party to the contract) rather filed a suit before the court against other third parties: Nana Appiah Mensah (the arbiter), Eric Amponsah (the sellers’ introducer), and Gabriel Kwamigah (who held brief for the buyers)”.

“To be clear on the subject, I, Nana Appiah Mensah did not purchase, acquire, nor transact any business of any sort, as my role was just an arbiter. I only came in as a third party to help resolve some issues concerning the two other vehicles upon the request of the two parties (buyers and sellers)”, the lawyers said.

The process through which the verdict was arrived at, the statement noted, “is fraught with serious legal infractions, as it did not conform with Section 60 and 61 of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1960 (Act 30) which is clear on the process of arrest, charge, accusations etc.”

“We have directed our lawyers to appeal the ruling on the point of the said law (Act 30) to bring finality to this matter”.