Alfred Woyome, the embattled businessman at the centre of the infamous GHS51 million judgement case, claims there is a scramble for his seized assets by government officials.
According to him, the trajectory of legal proceedings points to a scheme meant to satisfy some government appointees.
“I have ensured that what they should do, they do it according to law. We saw that there was insider trading and people among them [Government] want my properties for themselves,” he said on Citi TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday.
Mr. Woyome remains suspicious of state actors because the Attorney General is seeking clearance to take over his properties instead of selling them.
This followed a request by Albert Kan Dapaah, the National Security Minister.
“That is the case I have taken to the Human Rights Court under Article 33 and when they saw that we were there, then the auctioneer had to write a funny letter to Kan Dapaah who also has a personal interest in this matter. Kan Dapaah now using executive power writes to the Attorney General to go court and change the judgement to favour us to seize his properties.”
Currently, the Supreme Court has given the Attorney General permission to sell properties belonging to Mr. Woyome to offset part of his debt to the state.
Properties of the Woyome were seized by the government following a Supreme Court ruling.
Mr Woyome speaking on Citi TV’s Face to Face programme on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, Mr Woyome further alleged that government officials declined to engage him to negotiate the repayment plan.
I’ll repay GHS51M debt within two months if my shares are unfrozen
Mr. Woyome also says he could refund the GHS 51 million judgement debt cash wrongfully paid him by the state if his shares in business ventures are released.
“Let the government release the shares of my company and probably within two months that money will be paid,” he said
But he feels the state is not interested in retrieving the money he owes hence his current predicaments.
“I went to the Flagstaff House to meet the Personal Assistant to the Chief of Staff so that the Attorney General [will meet me and] and release shares of my company so that I can pay this money [GHS 51 million] although I have not stopped the state from going after the matter.”
Background
The Supreme Court, on July 29, 2014, ordered Mr Woyome to refund GHS 51.2 million to the state, on the grounds that he benefited from unconstitutional and invalid contracts between the state and Waterville Holdings Limited in 2006 for the construction of stadia for 2008 AFCON.
The case leading to the Supreme Court decision was initiated by Martin Amidu, the current Special Prosecutor.
Eventually, in March 2016, Mr. Woyome asked the court to give him three years to pay back the money, but the court declined to grant his wish.
He is, however, said to have refunded GHS4 million in November 2016 and an additional GHS600,000 and promised to pay the outstanding balance by quarterly instalments of GHS5 million, commencing April 1, 2017.
But he also initiated legal challenges at the Supreme Court challenging orders for him to pay the money which were all dismissed.
Mr Woyome further sued at International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) based in Paris, France, and the African Court of Justice, based in Arusha, Tanzania.
But in August 2017, the ICC threw out his case on the basis that he had failed to properly invoke its jurisdiction whilst his case at the African Court of Justice was also dismissed in June 2019.
