AG to grill Woyome today

The oral examination of embattled businessman and Judgment debtor Alfred Agbesi Woyome is expected to begin Monday, July 24, at the Supreme Court.

A single Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Alfred Benin, on the 4th of July 2017 paved way for the oral examination when he dismissed an application by Mr. Woyome, challenging the State’s motion seeking an order to orally examine him on how he spent the 51 million cedis paid to him illegally.

The Attorney General is expected to begin an enquiry into how Mr. Woyome spent the money and to uncover potential sources of income for the businessman in order to recover the monies due the State.

Background to Judgment Debt saga

Mr. Woyome was paid GHc 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 a former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, single-handedly 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.

Mr. Amidu himself, in 2016, filed an application at the Supreme Court seeking to examine Alfred Woyome, on how he was going to pay back the money, 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 21017 however, Mr. Amdu withdrew his suit seeking an oral examination, explaining that the change of government and the assurance by the new Attorney General to retrieve all judgement debts wrongfully paid to individuals, had given him renewed confidence in the system.