General News of Wednesday, 6 December 2017

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Anyone who got money from Woyome will pay back – Deputy AG

Godfred Yeboah Dame, Deputy Attorney-General play videoGodfred Yeboah Dame, Deputy Attorney-General

A Deputy Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame has said individuals who benefitted from businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome’s GHS51.2 million judgement debt will directly or indirectly refund their share.

Mr. Woyome, who is set to be cross-examined in court is expected to answer questions related to activities in his various bank accounts and individuals who might have benefitted from his unlawful gain.

Godfred Dame, in an interview with Metro Tv's Paul Adom-Otchere, said, based on copies of Mr. Woyome’s bank statements in his possession, if it comes up that some monies were transferred to individuals from the judgment debt, they would be liable to refund.

“I have copies of all his bank statements that show deposits into his accounts, various withdrawals and this will be the subject matter of the examination. And if [we] find out that people have profited from it apart from Woyome and his companies they can be traced,” he said.

He, however clarified that the refund was based on the purpose for which those individuals were given the money, saying, monies that were given out of sheer goodwill were going to be retrieved as part of payment of the GHS51.2 million, describing them as “proceeds of ill-gotten wealth.”

He noted that monies that were however paid based on genuine work for Woyome were not going to be ordered back as those were unaffected.

“It depends on the purpose. I would say in all reasonableness that if you did some consultancy work for him genuinely and you got paid out of it, I do not see how they can be ordered to return it,” he explained.

Even though he did not give a timeline, the Deputy Attorney General was confident that the case was set to end soon.

He noted, “I will not give any timeline, but of course the state clearly will encounter impediments thrown in its way by Mr. Woyome, but definitely in no time we will see an end to it.”