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General News of Thursday, 21 September 2017

Source: rainbowradioonline.com

I'm dabbled by politicians although I am not a politcian - Woyome

Business man Alfred Agbesi Woyome Business man Alfred Agbesi Woyome

Embattled businessman says he is being dabbled in Ghanaian politics although he is not a politician due to the GHc51 million paid him.

He was responding to the invasion of his residence by military personnel on Tuesday with the aim of valuing his property.

A combined team of armed police and military personnel on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 in a Rambo style stormed the Trassaco residence of the NDC financier, a move he said appeared like a coup d’etat.

Speaking exclusively to Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm, Mr. Woyome said his companies have been destroyed in the process of the frustration he is going through. He said, ‘’I am not a politician but they’ve tried to dabble me in all these.

I am a member of the NDC because of social democratic principle and that principle is equal to my religious belief, Christianity.’’ President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo he said promised to retrievedthe money paid him however after winning power, he [President] has putting the whole issue in a legal context.

‘’The other time I heard the president talking to you the press that he will use the court processes and I knew that should be typical of a president who has been a seasoned lawyer.

And so when he said so, he has now put the whole promise in the context of legality because that time in the campaign platform you can say anything,’’ he stated.

He asked Nana Addo to allow his appointees to use the normal legal processes because he feels they are misusing the powers granted them by the state.

Background to saga Mr. Woyome was paid the GH¢ 51 million after claiming he helped Ghana raise funds to construct stadia for the hosting of the 2008 African Cup of Nations.

However, an Auditor General’s report released in 2010, held that the amount was paid illegally to him. Subsequently, the Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back the money, after Martin Amidu, challenged the legality of the payments.

Following delays in retrieving the money, Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney General clearance to execute the court’s judgment, ordering Mr. Woyome to refund the cash to the state. There had been previous attempts to orally examine Mr. Woyome, with Mr. Amidu himself, in 2016, filing an application at the Supreme Court to find out how the businessman was going to pay back the money.

This came after the Attorney General’s office under the Mahama Administration, led by the former Minister for Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, discontinued a similar application.

In February 2017 however, Mr. Amidu withdrew his suit seeking an oral examination, explaining that the change of government and the assurance by the new Attorney General to retrieve all judgment debts wrongfully paid to individuals, had given him renewed confidence in the system