Gov't yet to retrieve €47m Waterville judgement debt

Today is exactly 97 days since the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ordered Waterville Holdings BVI Limited to pay back to the state all sums of money paid to it in respect of the construction and rehabilitation of three stadia towards the Africa Cup of Nations, CAN 2008.

However the New Statesman can confirm that no concrete action has been taken by government to retrieve the €47 million paid as jugement debt to Waterville, leading many to wonder what has accounted for the reluctance of the President to retrieve these monies back into state coffers.

This is the state of affairs in the country at a time government has announced it is providing legal assistance to the Sole Commissioner for Judgement Debts to help uncover the mystery surrounding the sale of Discover 511 drill ship belonging to the Ghana National Petroleum Company due to government says are contradictions and incoherencies in the statements made two former ministers in the Kufuor administration in respect of the deal.

It is recalled that the Attorney General’s department indicated its readiness to file a writ at the court to begin the legal processes of retrieving the judgement debts paid to Isofoton and Waterville. This move was announced almost a month after the Supreme Court order, following the pressure put on the A-G’s department by the Ghana Integrity Initiative.

New Statesman sources at the registry of the Supreme Court, however, say- no such writ has been filed at the court by the A-G’s department to enable the state commence processes to retrieve the 647m judgement debt paid to Waterville.

“The lack of enthusiasm on the part of President Mahama and his NDC administration to retrieve this money is shocking. They cite the fact that there is no money to pay contractors, striking university lecturers, caterers at the school feeding programme, amongst others, and yet the highest court of the land has ordered you to take back €47 million and you don’t want to take the steps,” our source lamented.

The source wondered what could be the stumbling block preventing the Mahama government from initiating moves to retrieve these monies, explaining further that the indecisiveness being exhibited by President Mahama could give credence to Justice Dotse’s assertion of the establishment of a “brigade to create, loot and share” the nation’s resources.