Supreme Court Starts Grilling Woyome

The Supreme Court, presided over by Justice Anthony A. Benin, has asked counsel for an Accra based businessman, Alfred Woyome to furnish the court with the House number and the location of the house where his client is staying.

This will enable them to subpoena Lands Commission for questioning to ascertain the true owner of the property.

The house came into contention when the Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame asked whether it belonged to the businessman.

Woyome told the apex court that the house in question belonged to his brother who lives outside the jurisdiction but has a dual citizenship.

He added that, the house was a family property, but he could not produce documents to that effect, saying his brother has the documents.

Justice Benin, therefore, ordered Mr Ken Anku, counsel for Woyome to furnish the court with details in respect to house by the close of Friday July 28, for the court to subpoena the Lands Commission.

Woyome, during the oral examination told the court that, he has not been engaged in any business for some time, since he lost all his businesses after his arrest in 2011 and subsequent trial.

This elicited the question as to who owns AAW Management Consulting Services and Anator Holdings Company Limited.

"Mr. Woyome, you own AAW Management Consulting Services Company Ltd?", Deputy AG asked and also wanted to know when the two companies were incorporated.

The businessman answered in the positive, but was quick to add that he has explanations.

He told the court that he cannot readily provide the date as to when it was incorporated and would need to refresh his mind on the details.

The Deputy AG, therefore, put it to him that he was not telling the truth if he said he has been jobless since 2011, because per documents in his possession, AAW Management Consulting Services Company Limited was incorporated in 2016.

Here, Woyome interjected and told the court that the company, despite being established in 2016, is still not in business.

For Anator Holdings Company Limited, the businessman said he is the Director and the Executive Board Chair but does not wholly own it.

He indicated that part of the shares has been moved but would need to refresh his memory with the records of the Registrar General.

When quizzed as to how much percentage he has in the Anator Holdings Company Limited, he could not give an answer. The court has, meanwhile, adjourned the oral examination to October 2nd and 3rd.

Background

Mr. Woyome was paid the GHc51 million after claiming he helped Ghana raise funds to construct stadia for the hosting of the 2008 African Cup of Nations.

However, an Auditor General's report released in 2010, held that the amount was paid illegally to him.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back the money, after a former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, challenged the legality of the payments.

Following delays in retrieving the money, Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney-General clearance to execute the court's judgment, ordering Mr. Woyome to refund the cash to the state.

There had been previous attempts to orally examine Mr. Woyome with Mr. Amidu himself, in 2016, filing an application at the Supreme Court seeking to examine Alfred Woyome on how he was going to pay back the money, after the Attorney General's office under the Mahama Administration, led by the former Minister for Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, discontinued a similar application.

In February 2017 however, Mr. Amdu withdrew his suit seeking an oral examination, explaining that the change of government and the assurance by the new Attorney General to retrieve all judgement debts wrongfully paid to individuals, had given him renewed confidence in the system.

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