Pressure Group OccupyGhana has accused the Attorney General of discontinuing a case at the Supreme Court against businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome in order to protect his accomplices in the controversial GHc 51 million judgment debt saga.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General had filed an application at the Supreme Court to orally examine Mr. Woyome.<\/p>\n
But the Attorney General\u2019s Department in a notice has announced its decision to discontinue the oral examination.<\/p>\n
OccupyGhana in response has said it is aware that some of the AG might ask Woyome questions which would expose some government officials who benefited from the booty.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”kY7laY2Ap5ApT9MbcLOgp17qMCCTIBNG”]A notice of discontinuance dated October 26, 2016 from the Attorney General stated that \u201cplease take notice that the 1st Defendant Judgment Creditor [Attorney General] herein has this day [26th Day of October 2016] discontinued the present application to orally examine the 3rd Defendant Judgment Debtor [Alfred Agbesi Woyome] with liberty to reapply.\u201d<\/p>\n
OccupyGhana had earlier commended the AG for taking up the case and urged the department to pursue it to its logical conclusion to ensure the money was refunded to the state.<\/p>\n
The pressure group explained that it issued a statement when the AG filed the first application \u201cbecause we had heard that after the order was obtained and served on Woyome, immense pressure was brought to bear on the Attorney-General\u2019s Department to abandon that process.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key concern, we learnt, had to do with Woyome being compelled to disclose how he spent our money, because the answer to that question would reveal the names of all the persons who benefited from our money. What we did not believe at the time was that on the very next day after our statement, the Attorney-General would so easily cave in to the pressure and abandon probably the only option left to Ghana to recover our money from Woyome,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n
Gov\u2019t, AG scared of Woyome<\/strong><\/p>\n OccupyGhana further took a swipe at government and the Attorney General saying they are scared of Mr. Woyome.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is clear to us that this government and its Attorney-General are either scared of Woyome or do not have the moral courage to pursue him for our money. We cannot forget that this Government deliberately bungled the civil case it reluctantly filed to claim the money from Woyome, and secretly paid the money to him at a time when that case was still pending, and when the court had allowed the Government to hold on to at least two-thirds of the money. We cannot forget that but for the admirable and sacrificial vigilance and work of Mr. Martin Amidu, Woyome might never have been compelled to refund our money,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n Background<\/strong><\/p>\n Alfred Woyome was paid \u00a251 million after he claimed that he helped Ghana to raise funds to construct stadia for purposes of hosting the CAN 2008 Nations Cup.<\/p>\n However an Auditor General\u2019s report released in 2010, said the amount was paid illegally to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back \u00a251 million fraudulently taken from the state, after Mr. Martin Amidu, a former Attorney General challenged the legality of the judgment debt paid the businessman, Waterville, and Isofoton.<\/p>\n Following delays in retrieving the money, the Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney-General clearance to execute the court\u2019s judgment ordering Mr. Woyome to refund the cash to the state.<\/p>\n Click here for OccupyGhana’s full statement:<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
\n