The Attorney General’s office has initiated steps to orally examine businessman, Alfred Woyome, in the controversial GHc 51 million judgment debt saga.
Documents sighted by Citi News indicate that, on June 2, 2017, an ex-parte motion to examine Mr. Woyome was filed.
The document noted that, Mr. Woyome will be examined on issues pertaining to whether he owed any debts, whether he has property to satisfy the debt, and the manner in which he used the judgment debt money paid him, among others.
Thus, Mr. Woyome will be expected to appear before the court on June, 29, 2017 for the examination. A separate document also noted that, a charge has been placed on the property of Mr. Woyome, as sought by the Attorney General’s office.
The companies affected by the charge included Anator Holding Company Limited, AAW Management Consulting Services, Anator Construction Company Limited, Green Township Security Services Company Limited, Woyome Brothers International Limited, Stewise Anator Company limited and Stewise Shipping Compan Limited.
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.