AG appeals ‘biased’ Alfred Woyome ruling

The Attorney General (AG) has submitted a notice of appeal against the acquittal of businessman Alfred Woyome describing the ruling of the judge as biased and unlawful.

[contextly_sidebar id=”dQg6PH1bAskewYRKNNLCgvrhzFVw11Er”]Woyome was acquitted and discharged on Thursday, March 12 on two counts of causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretense.

The notice of appeal, which was sighted by citifmonline.com, stated that “having called upon the accused person to open his defense, the judge had established a prima facie case against the accused person and his failure thereon to assess the defense of the accused person as against the evidence led by the prosecution was wrong in law.”

The prosecution’s case alleged that Woyome put in false claims by stating he was entitled to the amount because the government had abrogated a contract for the construction of stadia for the 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament which Ghana hosted, when according to the prosecution, there was no such contract.

The judge, Justice John Ajet-Nasam in giving his judgement on the case, said the state did a poor job on the case by failing to call key witnesses.

However, according to the state attorneys, the presiding judge, Justice John Ajet Nasam, erred in law when he criticised the prosecution for “woefully failing to establish a case against the accused when he had established a prima facie case against him.”

The state attorneys also noted that the statement by the judge, describing their failure to call former Attorney General, Betty Mould Iddrisu, Former deputy AG Barton Oduro, Samuel  Nerquaye Tetteh and Paul Asiemu as witnesses as fatal to their case “was wrong in law.”

The notice also deemed that the judge’s assessment of the evidence provided by the prosecution was “biased” stating that the “entire judgement was wrongful in law.”

The AG’s office also criticised the judge for what they called “unwarranted attacks on the prosecution.

News of the appeal by the Attorney General’s office will be welcomed by several observers who remain convinced Mr. Woyome was guilty and have criticised the AG’s handling of the case, including Former President Jerry John Rawlings.

However, the former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has downplayed the chances of a successful appeal, stating that appeal will not succeed if witnesses who are supposed to give “material evidence” are not called by the court.

“The appeal court will only have to rely on the evidence that was adduced from the trail so the chances of success in my view are quite remote,” he added.

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana