The embattled CEO of Menzgold Ghana Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM1), must be compelled to pay his clients all their investments rather than jailed for fraud, Kwame Okyere Jnr., a close associate of the troubled businessman, has said.

According to him, imprisoning NAM1 will be a futile venture since that will not inure to the benefit of the thousands of clients owed by Menzgold, as far as the retrieval of their investments is concerned.

He told Kwabena Prah Jnr (The Don) on Accra100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom on Wednesday, 16 January that: “For me, I think NAM1 should be brought back into the country and given enough time to pay the customers their money. Jailing him will not serve any good purpose to the numerous customers who are agitating at the moment.”

“The people want their money back, not to get NAM1 imprisoned. Even if you confiscate all his assets and sell them, that won’t be enough to defray all the debt, and, so, give the man the chance to work to pay his clients,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has frozen some bank accounts of NAM1.

The accounts, ClassFMonline.com learns, belong to Menzgold and other related businesses of the fugitive CEO who is currently in the custody of United Arab Emirates authorities, where he had travelled to retrieve some $39 million owed his company for gold sold to an Arabian, but ended up being arrested by Dubaian authorities for allegedly duping the same Middle Easterner of $51 million.

Back home, the Ghanaian authorities have declared NAM1 wanted for defrauding by false pretences and issued a warrant for his arrest as well as of his wife and sister, both directors of Menzgold, which has been unable to pay its several tens of thousands of customers’ extra values and principal capital since August last year after the Securities and Exchange Commission shut down the firm’s gold vault market over regulatory infractions.

A high-powered Ghanaian delegation is en route to Dubai to broker a deal for NAM1’s extradition since the two countries do not have any treaty to that effect.

Apart from the bank accounts, EOCO is also chasing after houses, offices, cars and other property belonging to Menzgold and Nana Appiah Mensah.

EOCO, for instance, is working in collaboration with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to seize numerous cars belonging the NAM1, Menzgold and related businesses.