A Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame, has vowed that the government will retrieve the GH¢51 million owed the state by businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

He said Mr. Woyome’s “day of reckoning will come” as the state is will employ every legitimate means to retrieve the money.

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an application by businessman Alfred Woyome, which sought to stop the seizure and valuation of his properties by the state.

His application came after state officials stormed one of his residences at the plush Trasaco vicinity, to value the property earlier this month.

The court presided by a sole judge, Justice Alfred Benin, described the application as one without merit hence his decision.

The ruling by the court paves the way for the state to continue with the valuation of the properties of Mr. Woyome in its quest to retrieve the money he owes from the judgment debt wrongfully paid to him.

Godfred Dame, who spoke to the media after Friday’s proceedings, said the state is determined to recover the money from Woyome, and will not be deterred by the tactics employed by Woyome to impede the process.

“I can assure you that, nothing will hinder the state in its efforts to recover the money. These are all ploys that will be swept away. No impediment, whatsoever that is placed in the way of the state by Mr. Woyome will prevent the state from recovering the money. Surely the day of reckoning will come,” he said.

Background to saga

Mr. Woyome was paid the GHc 51 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, filed 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.