Scores of ‘violent’ MenzGold customers arrested at NAM1 residence

About 100 aggrieved customers of the defunct gold-dealership firm MenzGold have been arrested by the police in Accra. Police say the demonstrating customers who forced their way into the plush Trassaco Estate Wednesday to demand for their locked-up investments from owner of the firm, Nana Appiah Mensah, were acting violently. They were said to have assaulted the private security personnel who were manning the main gate to the estate to gain entry to disturb public peace. A gunshot was reportedly fired from within the residence of Nana Appiah Mensah popularly known as NAM1, when the aggrieved customers attempted to break the gate to his house, a situation that created confusion within the area. Gun-wielding police personnel arrived at the scene moments later and began chasing the customers some of who were arrested and drove away in police pick-up vehicles to the Police headquarters. “You cannot forcefully enter one’s premises by assaulting and beating up their security details,” Head of the Operations at the Accra Regional Police Command, ACP Kwesi Ofori told journalists. He said the customers acted illegally as they failed to comply with the Public Order Act for not informing the police before embarking on the demonstration at the Trassacco Estate. “Nobody approached the police that today they will be embarking on demonstration; no information to the police and we all know that we live in a democratic country with rules, regulations and laws,” he said. According to him, the aggrieved customers invaded the estate and assaulted the security details to enter the premises “to carry out such an illegal exercise”. The action of the customers, he said, has everything to do with the police because “there are hundreds of homes here; disturbing and acting violently calls for police action so we are here to maintain police authority and to allow rule of law to prevail”. Background Customers who have since 2018 been pushing to get their locked up investments, in 2019 welcomed the arrival of NAM1 in Ghana from the United Arab Emirates where he was arrested on misdemeanour charges. Their joy particularly hinged on the news that a Dubai-based company has been ordered by an Emirati court to pay him some 39 million dollars. Though some customers were hopeful NAM1 was going to pay them their monies, others were sceptical the legal proceedings commenced against him by Ghana in mid-2019 will slow down the repayment process. Despite criminal charges against him, NAM1 has taken several steps towards payment of customers’ investments, but it appears those have not been successful. From October 28 to November 28, 2019, MenzGold undertook a validation exercise to vet documents of customers in order to make arrangements to settle them all. NAM1 claimed later in a social media post on December 27, 2019 that about 200 of hundreds of affected customers have received their locked-up funds with his firm. “I note with excitement that, the first batch from the first category of the Menzgold payment schedule has been successfully made today; 27th December 2019 by the ‘third party’ appointed,” he claimed in an Instagram post. But the customers have rejected the claim, prompting their latest action to storm NAM1’s residence Wednesday morning. By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana]]>