Businessman Alfred
Agbesi Woyome has been acquitted and discharged on two counts of
defrauding by false pretence and causing financial loss to the state.
The state failed to prove he fraudulently obtained GHC51.2 million. The
presiding Judge, Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, took on the prosecution for
failing to call former Attorney-General, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, Rex
Magnus Danquah, Ebo Barton Odro, Paul Asimenu, Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh and others who all had given written opinion that Woyome was entitled to the claim.
He said the State had also failed to put up a
defence when Woyome went to the Commercial Court and, therefore, found
it absurd for the state to turn around and accuse Woyome of causing
financial loss.
The Judge queried, "where lies the charge of
causing financial loss when the state failed to fight the case on its
merit at the Commercial Court?"
He also said there were inconsistencies in the evidence led by the prosecution's witness.
Based on the foregoing, the court said there was no legal basis for Woyome to be convicted.
Immediately after the judgement, an elated Woyome was whisked away from court.
Background
Woyome was arrested on February 3, 2012 after the Economic and
Organised Crime Office (EOCO), which was commissioned by the late
President John Evans Atta Mills to investigate payment to him, had
implicated him for wrongdoing.
He was first arraigned on February 6, 2012 together with three others.
Three others
The three people suspected to have aided Woyome were a Chief State
Attorney, Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh; his wife, Mrs Gifty
Nerquaye-Tetteh, and the Director of the Legal Department of the
Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Paul Asimenu.
Woyome was initially charged with conspiracy, defrauding by false
pretence and corrupting a public officer, while Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh was
charged with conspiracy and corrupting a public officer. Asimenu and Mrs
Nerquaye-Tetteh were charged with abetment of crime.
He was alleged to have paid GH¢400,000 to the couple but they and Mr
Asimenu were, on June 5, 2012, freed, following the state’s declaration
of filing a nolle prosequi to discontinue trying them.
Woyome was, however, re-arraigned and charged with two counts of
causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretence.
Feb 13, 2012 – Woyome, was on February 13, 2012 granted a GH¢54
million but his lawyers applied for variation and on February 20, 2012,
the bail condition was reviewed and reduced to GH¢20 million.
Indictments, resignations and dismissals
The interim report of EOCO, which was presented to the President on
February 2, 2012, also indicted two former government officials under
whose watch the procurement process was carried out.
They were Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Minister of Education, Youth and
Sports at the time, and his deputy, Mr O. B. Amoah. But Mr Osafo-Maafo
secured a court order which, declared EOCO’s investigation of him as
illegal.
He also testified as a prosecution witness and ended his examination-in-chief on July 30, 2012.
A fallout from the Woyome scandal led to the dismissal of the then
Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mr Martin Amidu, who later
managed to secure judgement against Woyome at the Supreme Court.
It also led to the resignation of the Minister of Education, Mrs
Betty Mould-Iddrisu, who, as Attorney General and Minister of Justice,
had recommended that the money be paid to Woyome.
Witnesses
The prosecution called nine witnesses but Woyome did not call any. He testified on his own behalf.
The crux of the prosecution’s case is that Woyome put in false claims
by stating he was entitled to the amount because government had
abrogated a contract for the construction of stadia for CAN 2008 when in
fact there was no such contract.
Woyome on his part is arguing he was entitled to the money because a
court of competent jurisdiction (Commercial Court) awarded him a default
judgement in 2010 after the state had failed to put in a defence.
The prosecution, which has since closed its case, began calling its witnesses in June 2012.
Persons who testified on behalf of the state were Mrs Mangowa Ghanney
of the MOFEP; Mr Osafo-Maafo; a former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr
Kwaku Agyeman Manu; Ms Yvonne Quansah of MOFEP and a former Deputy
Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Mr Lionel Van Lare Dosoo.
Ms Lesley Dodoo of the Public Procurement Authority; Mr Andrea
Orlandi, then Managing Director of Waterville Holdings, and Mr Ahmed
Sulemana, the acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Justice, and the
investigator in the case, Assistant Superintendent of Police Mr Odame
Okyere, also testified.
Woyome had sued the state for a breach of contract relating to the
construction of some stadia for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by
Ghana and was awarded a default judgement to that tune because the
state failed to put in a defence.
Submission of no case
Woyome on February 27, 2014 filed a submission of no case after the
state had closed its case but the court on April 30, 2014 ordered him to
open his defence. He opened his defence on May 6, 2014 and ended on
December 12, 2014.
Supreme Court on Woyome’s heels
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is on the heels of Woyome to refund the GHC51.2 million.
The highest court of the land on July 29, 2014, ordered Woyome to
refund GH¢51.2 million to the state on the grounds that he got the money
out of unconstitutional and invalid contracts between the state and
Waterville Holdings Limited in 2006 for the construction of stadia for
CAN 2008.
It held, in a unanimous decision, that the contracts upon which
Woyome made and received the claim were in contravention of Article 181
(5) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which requires such contracts to
be laid before and approved by Parliament.
The 11-member court, presided over by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice
Georgina Theodora Wood, was ruling on a review application filed by a
former Attorney- General and Minister of Justice, Mr Martin Amidu.
Other members of the panel were Justices Julius Ansah, Sophia
Adinyira, Rose Owusu, Jones Dotse, Anin Yeboah, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, N.
S. Gbadegbe, Vida Akoto Bamfo, A. A. Bennin and J.B. Akamba.
June 14, 2013 judgement
The court had on June 14, 2013, directed the international
construction firm, Waterville Holdings Limited (BVI), to refund all the
money paid to it by the Ghana government on the premise that it had no
valid and constitutional contractual agreement with the government.
Waterville is expected to refund 25 million euros it received from
the government, following the court’s judgement that the said contract
it entered into with the government for stadia construction for CAN 2008
was unconstitutional.
Mr Amidu had, in the original suit, prayed the court to order Woyome
to refund the money he had received as a result of the void contract the
government had entered into with Waterville Holdings.
But the court declined jurisdiction over the issue, with the reason
that the Attorney-General was pursuing the matter at the Commercial
Court to retrieve the money.
The review
According to the applicant, who filed the application for review on
July 12, 2013, he had read the two judgements delivered by the Supreme
Court very carefully, along with other Ghanaians of like thinking, and
had come to the conclusion that some aspects of the judgement contained
“exceptional circumstances that have resulted in what we perceive may
constitute a miscarriage of justice”.
He said the 1992 Constitution imposed both rights and obligations,
particularly under articles 2 and 3, on every Ghanaian citizen to ensure
that the constitutional order established by the Constitution was not
threatened or by an unlawful means abrogated.
The court in its July 29, 2014 decision upheld Mr Amidu’s review application and granted his prayer.
Enforcement
The Attorney-General has since filed an application to enforce the Supreme Court’s July 29, 2014 judgement.
Hearing of the application has been adjourned indefinitely to enable
bailiffs to serve hearing notices on Woyome and Waterville Holdings.
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