The Supreme Court has unanimously ordered businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome to refund GhȻ 51.2 million to the state.
“By a unanimous decision of this court, the application for review succeeds and is hereby granted” an order by the Supreme Court stated.
The the court therefore ordered that the “3rd Respondent [Alfred Agbesi Woyome] herein to refund to the Republic of Ghana all sums of money paid to him upon or as a result of the unconstitutional conduct of the 1st Respondent [The Attorney General], therein 1st Defendant in purported pursuance of the said inoperative Agreements dated 26th APril 2006.”
According to the court, the contracts upon which he made and received the claim was in contravention to Article 181 (5) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which requires such contracts to be laid before and approved by Parliament.
“A declaration that the conduct of the then Honourable Attorney General, the 1’t Defendant Respondent, in this case in paying or ordering the payment by the Republic of Ghana of claims by the 3rd Respondent and Austro-lnvest, premised upon a purported foreign intentional financial engineering agreement arising out of the agreements dated 26th April 2006, and other international business agreements arising out of the said agreements with the Government of Ghana which were never laid before Parliament for approval is inconsistent with and in contravention of Article 181(5) of the Constitution 1992 in terms of the interpretation already rendered by the ordinary bench and are accordingly declared null,void and without effect whatsoever.”
The court was ruling on a review application filed by a former Attorney General, Mr Martin Amidu on Tuesday.
The eleven-member panel was presided over by the Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood.
Other members of the panel were Julius Ansah, Sophia Adinyira, Rose Owusu, Jones Dotse and Anin Yeboah.
The others were Paul Baffoe Bonnie, N. S. Gbadegbe, Vida Akoto Bamfo, A. A. Bennin and J.B. Akamba.