Embattled businessman, Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome, has once again rushed to the Supreme Court to stop all moves by the Attorney-General (A-G) to retrieve the Gh₵51.2million that he owes the state.
The businessman wants the apex court to suspend his oral examination and all other processes by the state to reclaim the unlawful judgement debt that was paid to him.
He wants the suspension to be in place until the determination of his appeal at the African Court of Justice based in Arusha, Tanzania.
A five member panel of the court would hear the application on November 21, 2017.
Legal gymnastics?
Filing of fresh legal processes at the Supreme Court is not a new phenomenon for Mr Woyome as this is his seventh application since the A-G initiated moves to have him orally examined.
The A-G intends to use the oral examination to determine properties and the businesses owned by Mr Woyome in order to retrieve the money.
Since the first sitting of the oral examination at the court on July 24, 2017, the businessman has failed to show up for its continuation, with his lawyers normally giving the excuse that their client was sick.
Background
The Supreme Court, on July 29, 2014, ordered Mr 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.
The court held that the contracts upon which Mr 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.
On March 1, 2016, Mr Woyome prayed the court to give him three years to pay back the money but the court declined to grant his wish.
He, however, refunded GH¢4 million in November 2016 and promised to pay the outstanding balance by quarterly instalments of GH¢5 million, commencing April 1, 2017.
That did not materialise after the businessman initiated a litany of legal cases at the Supreme Court to either challenge the method employed by the state to collect the money or to have the judgement thrown out.
All his legal moves had failed with the Supreme Court dismissing all of them. His latest defeat was on October 20, 2017, when the court dismissed his attempt to stop the valuation of his properties by state officials.
Apart from fighting his cases in the country, Mr Woyome also sought relief from the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) based in Paris, France, and the African Court of Justice based in Arusha, Tanzania.
In August 2017, the ICC threw out his case on the basis that he failed to properly invoke its jurisdiction.
The case at the African Court of Justice is yet to be determined.
Source: Daily Graphic
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by the time we get this money the state would have lost 100 times the amount. some times I want to believe there is no willingness on the part of these politicians. it is either they are all using it to steal more money or they have no idea what they are doing. we are getting tired of this woyome rubbish and i hope this govt knows what they are doing.
Ghanaians becareful of nana addo. Tsikata did the same thing and did not face much punishment for his crimes. Nana addo must have made a deal with Woyome so that they will do this thing until Woyome goes free. Mark it on the wall, we have to find a new leader in 2014 and forget this short old oaf called nana. He another useelesss talkative politician
Can't you see what is going on? Woyome has made a deal with Nana's govt and they have decided to play this cat and mouse game. Was it not the same thing Tsikata did during JAK's era? Did we not see that in the end, Tsikata spent 1 month at Nsawam and 3 months at Korle Bu and was FREE to chop his loooooooot when Mills came? In fact, Mills even gave him post!!! Nana is a big foookin disappointment. His attorney General Gloria Akufu is as useeless as a punctured condom.
Don’t blame him. These politicians are only toying with us. What didn’t NPP say about retrieving the said amount. I’m beginning to loose trust. NPP will pay heavily if unable to deal with this con man called Woyome.
Mr Woyome please stop this child play and pay our money.
My brother,pay the money and be free.can u chop that money alone?aaaba
These man ???,