Pressure group, the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) is challenging government to arrest and prosecute former Attorney General Betty Mould Iddrisu and the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Barton Oduro.
[contextly_sidebar id=”kNdVmwDZFWvAEm0WTZUpwu0zXDGWVvs4″]The duo were at the helm of affairs when businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome received the nation’s GHC51 million as judgment debt for no work done as revealed by a Supreme Court ruling.
A recent High Court judgment by Justice John Ajet Nassam acquitted and discharged Mr. Woyome on grounds that he did not defraud the state by false pretences and causing financial loss to the state.
The Judge in his ruling implied that state prosecutors put up a bad defense by failing to call as witnesses, Betty Mould Iddrisu and Barton Oduro during the trial.
Several people and pressure groups have since called for the arrest and prosecution of Betty Mould Iddrisu and Barton Oduro for aiding and abetting with Mr. Woyome to receive the monies paid into his bank accounts.
Latest to join the fray is AFAG which is provoking the Mahama led NDC administration to cause the arrest and prosecution of Betty Mould Iddrisu and Barton Oduro.
According to AFAG, this will lend credence to President John Mahama’s claim that his administration abhorred corruption.
In a statement copied Citi News, AFAG stated that, “After painstakingly analyzing correspondents prior the famous illegal payment to Alfred Agbesi Woyome, AFAG can confirm without any shred of doubt that, Betty Mould Iddrisu and Barton Oduro conspired with businessman Woyome to steal from the state coffers.”
AFAG further accused then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould Iddrisu of crass incompetence which necessitated the GHC51 million paid to Mr. Woyome as default judgement debt.
“It is clear that, Betty Mould Iddrisu’s non-satisfactory posture after the Ministry of Finance treasury department’s query caused the default judgement from the high court in favor of payments to Mr. Woyome: the AG’s office did not file for defense but were quick as it was, to write to the Finance Minister to point out their inability to pay Woyome based upon their earlier advice had led to a court judgement ordering the state to make payments to Alfred Agbesi Woyome hence they had to effect payment immediately.”
“This is how wicked and insensitive Betty and Barton Oduro were to the people of Ghana: in all instances, they were in hurry for the state to make payment even when the treasury unit of the ministry of finance had questioned the basis for the payment,” AFAG’s leadership charged.
AFAG likened the actions of the duo to a conspiracy hatched by a gang of armed-robbers.
“Barton Oduro defended the indefensible: how on earth can this two public officers conspire to rob the state of its scarce resources: there is no distinction between the act of this persons and the midnight robbery by armed men: Ghanaians will like to know how much Betty and Barton Oduro each earned. Indeed we are aware of Nerquaye-Tetteh the then chief state attorney bagging home an equivalent of $400 000.”
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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/Citifmonline.com/Ghana