Businessman Alfred Woyome has said Deputy Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame has peddled lies following claims by the latter that he (Mr Woyome) had tried colluding with the now-defunct UT Bank to hide his landed assets from the state in connection with attempts by the government to retrieve a GHS51.2 million judgment debt illegal paid him years ago.

Mr. Dame told journalists after Monday’s Supreme Court hearing in which the now-defunct UT Bank claims to own some four properties it received from Mr Woyome, the same of which have been identified by the state for possession to defray part of the GHS51.2 million judgment debt.

Responding to Mr Dame on Accra-based Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, Mr Woyome told Umaru Sanda Amadu in an interview that: “This is purely propaganda by Godfred Dame”.

“There has never been any collusion”, he insisted, adding: “He [Dame] should stop the lies”.

“Someone in the NPP government should talk to him [Dame]. They should call Dame to order.”

Mr Woyome threatened: “If Godfred Dame keeps doing what he’s doing, I’ll see him in court. If I lose the case, I’ll pay but if I win, the state would have to pay me.”

Background

Mr Woyome was paid the GHS51.2 million after he sued the state over an alleged breach of a purported contract between him and the government. In connection with the termination of the same alleged contract, foreign construction firm Waterville Holdings BVI, was also paid €25 million.

In the Waterville case, the Supreme Court, on June 14, 2013, declared as null and void, and of no operative effect, the contract between the firm and the Government of Ghana titled: ‘Contract for the Rehabilitation (Design, Construction, Fixtures, Fittings and Equipment) of a 40,000 Seating Capacity Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi, Ghana’ entered into between the Republic of Ghana and Waterville Holdings Limited (BVI), of P.O. Box 3444, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands on April 26, 2006.

The ruling was premised on the basis that the alleged contract, which was the ground for the payment of the judgment debt to Waterville, following its alleged illegal termination, contravened Article 181 (5) of the 1992 Constitution, which required such contracts to go to Parliament for approval. The same court ruled that Mr Woyome did not merit the GHS51.2 million based on similar grounds.

Mr Woyome promised to refund the money by the end of 2015. In March last year, his lead counsel, Sarfo Boabeng, told the nine-member Supreme Court panel that heard the AG’s application for the retrieval of the money that his client had already resolved to make the payment at the end of 2015.

Mr Woyome’s accounts and assets were frozen about three years ago after he was arrested and charged for causing financial loss to the state, as well as defrauding by false pretence, with regards to the payment made to him between 2009 and 2010 under Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu and Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, as Attorney General and Deputy, respectively.

However, he was acquitted and discharged by a High Court on two counts of defrauding by false pretences and causing financial loss to the state.

According to the presiding judge, John Ajet-Nasam – who is one of 34 judges being investigated by the Chief Justice for corruption and who was recently removed from the judiciary on the orders of President John Mahama after investigations regarding his bribery conduct found him to have sullied his office – the prosecutors failed to prove Mr Woyome fraudulently obtained the GHS51.2 million.

Justice Ajet-Nasam also indicted the prosecution for failing to call Mrs Mould-Iddrisu, Mr Rex Magnus Danquah, Mr Barton-Odro, Mr Paul Asimenu, Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh and others – who had all given written opinions that Mr Woyome was entitled to the money – as witnesses.

Subsequently, a civil suit on the same case by Mr Amidu resulted in the apex court ruling that Mr Woyome, as well as Waterville, did not merit the payment for the work they allegedly did for the state ahead of Ghana’s hosting of CAN 2008, since he had not parliamentary approval for the contract that covered that endeavour.

Anti-corruption crusader Martin Amidu recently filed a suit at the Supreme Court praying the highest court of the land to throw out a suit filed by one Abdulai Yusif Fanash Muhammed, in which he is praying the same court to overturn its own ruling in which it said Mr Woyome must refund the GHS51.2 million.

The Hohoe resident sued Mr Amidu, the Attorney General, and Mr Woyome for a declaration that “the financial engineering claims by Alfred Agbesi Woyome arising out of the tender bid by Vamed Engineering GmbH/Waterville Holdings during the procurement process from June 2005 until its wrongful abrogation in August 2005, is not an international business transaction within the meaning of Article 181 of the Constitution, 1992,” for which reason parliamentary endorsement would have been necessary.

Mr Woyome has so far repaid about GHS4 million of the total amount.