There was no Scheme to Free Woyome - NDC

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has dismissed claims that there was a grand scheme by the party and Attorney General’s office to set businessman Alfred Woyome free.

 
This is in response to accusations by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that government officials who are accomplices of Woyome have been left off the hook because there was “a grand scheme” to defraud the state.
 
They asked; “We know government and public officials who were involved in this fraud are walking freely, why have they not been prosecuted.”
 
But the National Organizer of the NDC, Kofi Adams in an interview on Eyewitness News said if the whole case was just an alliance to defraud the state, “the Judge would not have asked Woyome to open his defence.”
 
Woyome, who is a known financier of the governing NDC was acquitted and discharged by an Accra High Court last week on two counts- causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretense- following the payment of Ghc51 million to him as judgment debt.
 
The presiding judge, Justice John Ajet-Nasam is reported to have criticized state prosecutors for a shoddy work done on the case before giving his ruling.
 
The ruling came as a disappointment to many, including ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, and subsequently given rise to criticisms of state prosecutors for what some call their ‘intentional’ refusal to call in key witnesses to help them win the case against Woyome.
 
Kofi Adams, however, had a contrary view. According to him, he will not agree with anybody who will say the prosecution did not do their work very well.
 
But he was quick to admit that “maybe, they [prosecutors] could have done better possibly, but I completely disagree with anybody who will say they didn’t do well in any way at all.”
 
He admonished Ghanaians to respect the AG’s quest to appeal the ruling because “they have said that they feel they have seen some loopholes in law to contest and win an appeal and we must respect that.”
 
He questioned why anybody will think the Woyome ruling is an embarrassment to the NDC since it was not the party that judged the case.
 
“It is not an embarrassment to the NDC because the NDC did not judge the case…not at all! If there is any embarrassment, then those who prosecuted the case will feel possibly dissatisfied with the judgment and they have given clear indications that they will appeal the ruling of the Fast Track High Court.”
 
Kofi Adams added that the ruling has also not “shaken the NDC” in way.