Woyome doesn’t have Ghc51m in his accounts – AG

Businessman Alfred Woyome does not, at the moment, have Ghc51.2 million in his frozen bank accounts, Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dr Dominic Ayineh has revealed.

“As far as the bank accounts are concerned, I will be honest with the people of this country to say that we don’t have Ghc51 million sitting there.

“That one, we have verified. We know the account, we know that we don’t have Ghc51 million sitting there,” he said to Samson Lardy Anyenini on Joy FM’s news analysis programme newsfile Saturday.

Mr Woyome’s accounts and assets were frozen about three years ago after he was arrested and charged for causing financial loss to the state as well as defrauding the state by false pretences with regards to the payment of the Ghc51.2 million judgment debt to him between 2009 and 2010 under Betty Mould-Iddrisu and Ebo Barton-Odro as Attorney General and Deputy, respectively.

Prior to his recent acquittal and discharge of both charges by an Accra High Court Judge on Thursday, the Supreme Court had ruled about two years ago, in a civil aspect of the case which was filed at the apex court by Mrs Mould-Iddrisu’s successor Martin Amidu, that the financier of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) did not merit the payment and therefore should refund it to the state.

The Supreme Court determined unanimously that the contract, which Mr Woyome said he had with the State, whose illegal termination resulted in him dragging the Government to court for which the court awarded him the default judgment, lacked parliamentary approval and thus null and void.

Mr Woyome is yet to refund the money to the state as ordered by the highest court of the land. Dr Ayineh has given indications that the money will be retrieved in the next few months.