Woyome Case Resumes On July 21

Hearing of the GH�51.2 million criminal case against businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome resumes on July 21, 2104. Meanwhile, a letter quoting a former Deputy Minister of State, Mr O.B. Amoah, as refusing to side-step procurement procedures to include a Chinese firm in the bidding process for stadia construction for CAN 2008 has been produced. The letter, dated July 22, 2005, was forwarded to the Financial Division of the High Court by the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr Solomon Mensah, upon the orders of the court. Woyome on May 19, 2014 told the court that a former Minister of Education and Sports, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, had signed the letter that had informed the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the CAN 2008 tournament that procurement procedures for the stadia construction could not be side-stepped. The letter could not be tendered in evidence on that day because the court, presided over by Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, had upheld the prosecution�s objection to the tendering of the letter, which they said was not signed. As a result, the court directed the ministries of Education and Sports to produce the said letter. However, the signed letter which has since been tendered in evidence as an exhibit has Mr Amoah as the signatory. Cross-examination Meanwhile, a Chief State Attorney, Mr Matthew Amponsah, in cross-examining Woyome on July 10, 2014 asked why he (Woyome) said he was a retired diplomat. According to the accused person, he was the immediate Vice Honorary Consul of Austria to Ghana. Mr Amponsah then prayed the court to give the prosecution some time to retrieve and study the record of proceedings in order to carry out effective cross-examination. The court obliged and subsequently adjourned the case to July 21, 2014.