Woyome’s AG removal campaign won’t wash – Ayikoi Otoo

Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Nii Ayikoi Otoo has said with or without current Attorney General Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong at the helm of affairs as the Chief state Attorney and legal Adviser, the State’s appeal filed against a recent high court judgment that acquitted and discharged businessman Alfred Woyome of two criminal charges, will still come off.

Mr Ayikoi Otoo’s comment on the Morning Starr comes on the heels of a letter written to Mrs Appiah-Oppong by Mr Woyome asking her to resign or step aside from the appeal because she benefitted from the Ghc51.2 million judgment debt paid to the alleged NDC financier by the State between 2009 and 2010 after he dragged the Government to court over the abrogation of a contractual agreement he had with the State.

Mr Woyome said in the letter that the AG received the Cedi equivalent of $1 million from the controversial Gh¢51.2m judgment debt payment.

According to Mr Woyome, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, whose firm–Lithur Brew and Co–benefitted from the payment while representing Astro Invest and M-PowerPack in the same case before becoming AG, cannot be at the helm of affairs as far as the appeal application is concerned.

In his letter addressed to the secretary to the President and the Chief of Staff said Mrs Appiah-Oppong is “biased”, adding that he cannot be guaranteed justice with her in office as AG.

“Inasmuch as I’m not against the decision of the state to appeal, I’m particularly against your conduct and public utterances during the trial and after the judgment,” Woyome said in his letter.

He added: “I find it difficult to reconcile your decision to involve yourself directly in this criminal case and notice of appeal you have authorised to be issued and served on me.

“It is a fact that you and your clients received approximately $1 million equivalent in Ghana Cedis from the said judgment debt you now so much criminalise and want me jailed for. The cedi equivalent was GH¢1,474,393.00 through an Agricultural Development Bank cheque number 727324 dated 06/10/11 in the joint names of Ray and Ingeborg Smith.

“My confusion is as a result of your insistence that the fruit from the judgment debt from a court of competent jurisdiction, in fact, a judgment debt is criminal, you are a beneficiary of that fruit which you are seeking so hard to taint.

“It is my firm believe that another Attorney General should be the one pursuing this issue further since you are wearing a bias lens in making decisions concerning this case.

“I further believe that with this bias lens you cannot properly and fairly advice the Government of Ghana on this issue of exercising the constitutional right of Attorney General as stated in Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution vis-à-vis my right under the same constitution of the Republic as a citizen.

“I’m humbly appealing to you to step aside or resign totally as attorney general for another person to pursue the appeal in the interest of justice,” Woyome added.

However, Mr Ayikoi Otoo told Kafui Dey on Tuesday that: “…This one, it won’t wash, because whether the AG is removed; whether she steps aside or not, I believe that the prosecution can still proceed. The appeal will not stop merely because a particular AG has been removed from office.”

When asked about how he thinks the case will pan out in the court of appeal, Mr Ayikoi Otoo said: “Well it depends on the strategies that he adopts; if he still wants to muddy the waters as my colleague has said, the diversionary things that he is doing and he has already warned the public that if they don’t take care he will not go down alone…let’s wait and see if he has something up there.”