Why charge Menzgold CEO without proper investigations? – Judge rejects prosecutors plea for long adjournment

State prosecutors have pleaded with a Circuit court judge for a long adjournment in the trial of Menzgold CEO Nana Appiah Mensah who faces with others, 61 charges including money laundering.

ASP Sylvestre Asare, speaking in court Wednesday said the state would prefer January to commence trial of the embattled businessman and his two relatives, TheGhanaReport monitored proceedings.

The Menzgold described by some financial analysts as a Ponzi scheme, collapsed after the Securities and Exchange Commission directed it to stop operations.

The company has since faced unrelenting pressure to pay back its clients believed to be in the thousands.

Nana Appiah Mensah also known as NAM1 is also facing criminal charges including unlawful deposit-taking and sale of minerals without a licence.

ASP Sylvestre Asare on Wednesday informed the court, investigations were at an advanced stage but pleaded for some more time.

The judge express misgiving about the request for a long adjournment. She questioned the slapping of charges on the accused when investigations had not been thoroughly done.

The court presided over by Harriet Akweley rejected the plea for an adjournment to January and fixed December 23 as the next date for trial.

NAM1 was arrested in July 2019 after returning from Dubai where he had gone in December 2018 to retrieve some money he said is to help pay clients.

The businessman claimed he won a judgment in Dubai courts in a gold dealership business gone bad. Dubai authorities reportedly released him after they failed to prove a cause of fraud leveled against him.

Back in Ghana, he has been assuring customers they will be paid. He has also sought help from government to retrieve some $39m after the state froze his accounts.