The Attorney General’s (AG) Department discontinued its case against Alfred Woyome, in the GHc51 million judgment debt saga because it was considering a possible settlement with the defendant, President John Mahama has said.
The AG’s department, led by the Minister for Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, was met with criticism and accusations of corruption following a decision to discontinue an application to examine the one-time NDC financier orally.
Leading the charge against the AG was a former Attorney-General and anti-corruption campaigner, Martin Amidu, as he filed a successful application at the Supreme Court to examine Mr. Woyome following the AG’s discontinuation of the case.
Mr. Amidu in his application to the Supreme Court, alleged among other things that the AG withdrew her application to examine Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, because President Mahama personally gave an order.
Allegations disheartening and false
But the President described the claim as falsehoods brewed for the “purposes of political propaganda,” as he maintained that the AG had “pursued this case relentlessly.”
Speaking at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s presidential encounter series on Wednesday, he explained that, the AG put in application for oral examination, but at the same time, “discussions had been ongoing in respect of a settlement and before that happened, a terms of settlement was granted.”
“So she [the AG] went to the Supreme Court and discontinued the oral examination so that she could look at the terms of settlement and see if it was acceptable, or meet with his lawyers and agree on what the terms were with the option to come back in the event she was not satisfied with the terms,” he stated.
President Mahama further lamented that, there are people “who are just willing to publish any allegations in the papers against the person of the president and there all kinds of false claims, allegations and things – sometimes you read and get disheartened,”
Background to Woyome saga
Alfred Woyome was paid GHc 51 million after he claimed to have helped raise funds to construct stadia for purposes of hosting the CAF 2008 Nations Cup.
However an Auditor General’s report released in 2010, said the amount was paid illegally to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier.
The Supreme Court in 2014 subsequently ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back the GHc 51 million fraudulently taken from the state, after Mr. Amidu challenged the legality of the judgment debt paid the businessman and two other companies; Waterville and Isofoton.
Source: Citifmonline
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Our president is displaying crass ignorance of basic court procedures. Does our president know the difference between an adjournment and a discontinuance? The president is not a lawyer but common sense should have informed him that the AG should have asked for an adjournment, and explored the possibility of a settlement, instead of filing a notice of discontinuance. Please stop throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians. We are very discerning!!!
So now we live in a country where we negotiate with fraudsters over a case even the supreme Court has given u the go ahead to collect our money
Mr President, did you hear yourself speak?
jm is de most hornest president i haf ever seen those who came to office but sold al GA LANDS to themselves all now talking trash we know them and their record smells like totobi we love the president and we will vote for him massively come dec 2016 all the noise is as a result that you are loosing massively with dat old 72 year old man who knows no shame is still going around misbehaving in town with his uncivilised party members look ghana is for all not npp we shall see because de end justify de means talkatives madnesssss
PAYMENT NOT ACCEPTABLE!! We need our money its been too long and you NDC guys sense you are not going to win the elections so he has come up with this proposal just in case you dont win the election. We all know Woyome is a scape goat and that the real culprits are behind the scenes. I am sorry for him because he probably didnt get much as opposed to the ***barred word*** NDC gurus in the dark...massa you guys are going to JAIL!!!
WHAT DOES JON MAHAMA TAKE GHANAIANS FOR : A BUNCH OF MONKEYS ON TRESS AND SO IS JON MAHAMA NOT TIRED OF LYING TO GHANAIANS -KWARAAA!!!!!!!!; DOES THIS ARROGANT THIFF THINK GHANAIAN WILL BELIEVE THIS COOKED UP STORY BESIDES WE ARE TOLD THAT THE SIGNED CHEQUE WAS SIGNED BY WOYOME TO THE WRONG GOVERNMENT OFFICE : WHAT IS GOING ON -LA !!!!!!!; HOW ON EARTH DID JJ RAWLINGS MANAGE TO SET UP SUCH BUNCH OF KRIMINALS AS A PARTY !!!!!!!UNBELIEVABLE !!!!!
Ohh JM , funny you are saying this. Why didn't the AG's office tell this to Ghanaians than blatantly discontinuing the court process. If Martin Amidu had not progress to the SC you wouldn't have come out to tell this lie. Martin Amidu must be protected at this time because the evil men who chop the money will try to kill him. We will pray for the almighty to protect him for his selflessness to help Ghana as a whole.