Corporal Normanyo said he personally arrested, investigated, and prosecuted NAM 1 on the case, but realised the case was dropped a year after his retirement.
“Somewhere in 2012, I was then a police officer as a detective at the Weija police station, which we popularly called SCC.
“Then this gentleman and his associates were operating a company they called SF Gold Ghana Limited where they succeeded in defrauding some 53 Ghanaians and a report was made to the police and then I was charged to investigate [the matter],” he disclosed.
In his view, the monies of several thousands of innocent investors would have been saved had the embattled businessman been arrested at the time.
Speaking to Accra-based Class FM, the retired cop explained: “The investigation led to the arrest of Nana Appiah Mensah and one other person, William Atsu Tekpor. After investigations, we found evidence that they actually conspired to defraud the complainants and, so, we accordingly charged them for defrauding by false pretences and they were put before Circuit Court 9 in Accra.
“The case was ongoing and a year later, I exited the police service, and, so, I stopped following the case but when this Menzgold issue popped up, I tried to find out who was behind it and it turned out to be this same gentleman, and, so, I found out from my colleagues at Weija district what happened to that case and I was told they stopped going to the court.
He added: “A bench warrant was issued for his arrest and, so, that meant that as far back as 2013, the police had a bench warrant issued for the arrest of this guy. I don’t know why he was not arrested and he went on to do what he has done now.
“It is pathetic and I believe strongly that if that case was pursued to its logical conclusion, that guy would have been put in jail and he wouldn’t have been able to scam over 60,000 Ghanaians, millions of dollars. It’s unfortunate.”
NAM 1 as come under fire after an Accra Circuit Court issued a warrant for his arrest last week.
The arrest warrant follows the failure of Menzgold to refund the investments of aggrieved customers who have their monies locked up with the gold dealership firm.
Meanwhile, the Menzgold CEO is currently under arrest in Dubai in connection with a separate gold trading deal gone bad within the Emirati jurisdiction, the Ghana Police Service has said.
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