Alfred Agbesi Woyome
The hopes of beleaguered businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome to avoid or at least delay the refund of the GH¢51.2 million he fraudulently received as judgment debt have been dashed.
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights based in Arusha, Tanzania, where he filed a case against Ghana yesterday dismissed the application brought before it.
In a unanimous decision, the court held that Mr. Woyome’s right to non-discrimination, right to equality before the law, equal protection before the law and his right to be heard by an impartial tribunal had all not been violated.
Mr. Woyome was banking his hopes on the possible outcome of the ruling to further frustrate efforts by the state to retrieve the money which the Supreme Court ordered him to pay back.
In his application, Mr. Woyome averred that his right was violated because a Supreme Court judge, Justice Jones Victor Dotse, had made some personal remarks against him when he brought the judgment debt case before the apex court for constitutional interpretation.
At the time, Justice Dotse had stated that Mr. Woyome had “entered into an alliance to create, loot and share the resources of this country as if a brigade had been set up for such an enterprise.”
Mr. Woyome claimed in his application that this comment denied him the right to be heard by an impartial tribunal as he lost the constitutional case at the Supreme Court.
He pointed to the guarantees of this right as stated under Article 7 of the African Charter, a document which forms the basis of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Right.
Major Ruling
But the African Court in a unanimous decision held that Justice Dotse although he wrote the lead judgment on the constitutional matter, he was only one of the 11 judges.
According to the decision, “The court is of the opinion that a single judge’s remarks cannot be considered sufficient to taint the entire bench. Furthermore, the applicant has not illustrated how the judge’s remarks at the ordinary bench later influenced the decision of the review bench”.
The court, therefore, dismissed the application brought by Woyome.
Properties Sale
The Supreme Court presided over by a single judge, Justice Alfred A. Benin, ordered the state to go ahead and sell four properties of Mr Woyome to defray the debt.
This was after the court found that Mr Woyome had colluded with defunct UT Bank to hide the properties from the state.
The properties include three residential properties – two at Trassaco Valley and one at Accra Newton as well as a quarry at Mamfi in the Eastern Region.
The properties, according to Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, are estimated to cost at least GH¢20 million.
The state has also indicated that it has discovered two more properties belonging to the businessman and will take steps to sell them off.
Payment Plan
Mr. Woyome has since vowed to fight the decision of the single judge by seeking a review at the apex court.
Speaking on Accra-based Kasapa FM, he said he disagrees with the decision and would seek to have it overturned.
He, however, said should the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Right order that he pay the money, he will sit with the state and come up with a payment plan.
Below is a video from the ruling:
BY Gibril Abdul Razak