Owner of the house in Cape Coast that was stormed by police officers on Sunday, January 13 has come out to refute claims that the property belongs to mother of Menzgold CEO, Nana Appiah Mensah.
She said, the house which was captured in media reports was built by her and not owned by Nana Appiah Mensah’s mother.
Mrs. Agnes Dennis-Moses who seems unhappy with the publication of her property without her permission, said she rented the house to one Dankwa Smith two years ago whose period of occupancy expired November 2018 but he is yet to move out.
She insists, she has no relationship with Nana Appiah Mensah or his mother and, therefore, the latter does not occupy the property in question.
“I rented the house to one Mr. Dankwa Smith, I rented it out for two years. Teir time in the house expired in November 2018 so they’re in the process of moving out. It is my house only for me to hear it from people, colleagues were calling, family members were calling. It is my property. I have the documents with me, it is my house that I built. I rented the house to one Dankwa,” she angrily insisted.
“I’m a resident in Takoradi and the property is at Cape Coast, once in a while I go there so I cannot say that he’s with this one or that one. It is my property, I feel so embarrassed, embarrassed in the sense that I had several calls yesterday and people who knew that the property is mine...Just redeem my image, the property is mine. It is now in public domain, the picture of the house and then together with the story. I was working with the port, I was the marketing and public affairs manager for Takoradi Port, I worked for over 40 years so how come that property belongs to Menzgold, who is he? Is it because he is rich? I haven’t even seen him before, I only sight him on TV because of his issue, I don’t know him anywhere,” Mrs. Dennis-Moses lamented.
Earlier reports by 3news.com indicated that police officers numbering about 20 arrived at the huge one-storey house located at Adaaso in search of Nana Appiah Mensah.
Sources within the Central Regional Police Command confirmed the ‘friendly visit’ to the house by a team of officers from Accra and Cape Coast but did not give further details except to say they were there to “gather information”.
According to the sources, “no one was arrested” and that the visit was part of investigations by Interpol in the case being handled by the Police Criminal Investigations Department. It is unclear whether the officers met the NAM 1’s mother, Mrs. Ivy Brew.
Police on Friday, January 11 declared NAM1 wanted as they secured a warrant for his arrest.
The action by the Police followed a series of protests from aggrieved customers who have had their investments running into several thousands of dollars locked up in NAM1’s Menzgold firm.
However, it is alleged that NAM 1 has been arrested in Dubai and that a high powered government delegation led by the National Security Minister and officials of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) are initiating moves to extradite him back to Ghana for possible investigations and prosecution.
Background
The Bank of Ghana in August last year issued a public notice that Menzgold Ghana Limited is not licensed and has no authority to engage in the solicitation, receipt of money or investments and the payment of dividends or returns to its clients which is captured in Section 6 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).
It also hinted of impending sanctions, saying after several cautions to Menzgold, it has started discussions with relevant regulatory authorities to sanction them for breaching the law.
Though Menzgold called the bluff of the central bank, it was forced to shut down in September 2018 by the SEC.
As part of the shutdown notice, the firm was ordered not to take new contracts (investments).
SEC claimed evaluation of Menzgold’s documentations show the company does not have the licences to trade in gold, and that, its operations are in breach of Act 929 “as well as a threat to unsuspecting and uninformed investors”.
The company has since been in tango with SEC as well as customers and investors who are demanding their returns and investments.
But when the issues appeared to have escalated due to pressure from the customers, Nana Appiah Mensah run to parliament with a petition to intervene so the company can resume operations and pay its customers.
The company pleaded with the House to particularly intervene in the impasse between it and the SEC, which the company claimed has caused delays in paying its customers interest on their investments.
The company claimed in the petition to the Finance Committee of Parliament that the complete shutdown of its gold collectible vault by SEC has “caused a lot of serious challenges for the company and its customers [both local and foreign]”.
Accordingly, the firm wants Parliament to “intervene and help resolve this matter amicably”.
The alleged house said to belong to the mother of Nana Appiah Mensah