Supreme Court directs gov't to buy Woyome’s properties

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court presided over by Chief Justice Anin Yeboah has directed the Attorney General’s department to purchase properties of businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome, rather than just taking ownership.

Deputy Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame had through an application urged the court to allow the state to take ownership after failure by an auctioneer to sell them to offset a ¢51.2million debt the businessman owes the state.

The auctioneers had earlier served a notice that it was unable to auction the properties because buyers fear the properties could be returned to him by a future government.

Due to these developments, the apex court on Wednesday [ June 24, 2020] said the state should mobilise resources to acquire the properties of the embattled businessman.

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Background

The Supreme Court, on July 29, 2014, ordered Mr Woyome to refund GH¢51.2 million to the state on grounds that he got the money out of unconstitutional and invalid contracts between the state and Waterville Holdings Limited in 2006 for the construction of stadia for CAN 2008.

It was the view of the court that the contracts upon which Mr Woyome made and received the claim were in contravention of Article 181 (5) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which required such contracts to be laid before and approved by Parliament.

The case leading to the Supreme Court decision was initiated by Mr Martin Amidu, the current Special Prosecutor, in his capacity as a citizen of Ghana.

The Supreme Court gave the Attorney General permission to sell properties belonging to Mr. Woyome to offset part of the GHS47 million he owes the state.

Following delays in retrieving the money, the 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.