The presiding judge was not my grandmother – NAM1 replies critics after Poloo conviction

The conviction of actress Akuapem Poloo on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, reignited calls for the arrest of Nana Appiah Mensah, the Chief Executive Officer of defunct gold-trading firm Menzgold.

The fury that greeted the judgment by Mrs Christiana Cann was on the basis that while Poloo could be jailed for ‘merely’ showing obscene pictures of herself and her son, NAM1 is walking freely despite rife fraud allegations.

Bridget Otoo, journalist tweeted “NAM1 is still free and doing Instagram post. A man described by the state as a scammer. A man whose actions has killed people, rendered thousands jobless and some are at the point of suicide!”.

NAM1 has today, April 15 reacted to the attacks, defending his innocence. He reminded his critics that his case is pending in court and he will have his day in court to defend the allegations levelled against him.

“Stop Misleading the public. Even on a foreign land i was acquitted and discharged, a decision that was affirmed by the Appeals Court and the Supreme Court. FYI: my granny wasn’t the presiding judge. Back home, I pleaded NOT GUILTY and I’m having my day in Court,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile a lawyer has suggested that Akuapem Poloo could be jailed for maximum three years after she was found guilty.

“The offence she was charged with is a misdemeanour, and with a misdemeanour, you could be fined, you could be cautioned, and you could go a for a custodial sentence. But when a judge directs that you take a pregnancy test, as they do for female convicts, it means that we are in for a custodial sentence because the idea is that you don’t put a pregnant woman in jail,” he said.

He noted that the responsibility lies on the lawyers of Akuapem Poloo to convince the judge on why it will be appropriate to hand her a sentence less than the three years.

“Counsel is supposed to make a submission on behalf of the convict, which we call a plea of litigation, for the court to avert its mind to certain circumstances of the convicted person…If the judge finds that the plea for mitigation is something that she could consider, it could come in to mitigate the sentence.”

“For misdemeanours, it is between a caution and a maximum of 3 years…Looking at the circumstances we have right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if she is given a custodial sentence, and it could be one day to three years,” the lawyer said.

Stop Misleading the public. Even on a foreign land i was acquitted and discharged, a decision that was affirmed by the Appeals Court and the Supreme Court. FYI: my granny wasn’t the presiding judge. Back home, I pleaded NOT GUILTY and I’m having my day in Court.

— Nana Appiah Mensah (@nana_appiah_m) April 15, 2021