Alfred Agbesi Woyome
Embattled businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome appears to have finally accepted defeat in his unsuccessful legal battles to avoid or at least delay the payment of the GH¢51.2 million he fraudulently received as judgment debt.
Having lost all the legal battles to reverse an order to sell his assets to pay off the debt, Mr Woyome has ‘politely’ written to the Attorney-General (A-G) requesting a meeting to renegotiate payment plans for the remaining GH¢46.6 million.
That has also backfired, as the response from the Office of the A-G and Minister of Justice shot down the request “for obvious reasons.”
GH¢51.2 million
Mr Woyome was paid GH¢51.2 million as judgment debt for helping Ghana raise funds to construct stadia towards the hosting of the Africa Cup of Nation in 2008.
It later turned out that the money was illegally paid to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier who didn’t deserve the whopping amount at the expense of the taxpayer.
The Supreme Court then ordered him to refund the money out of which he had paid just GH¢4.6 million.
Property Sale
The Supreme Court presided over by a single judge, Justice Alfred A. Benin, ordered the state to go ahead and sell four of Woyome’s properties to defray the debt.
This was after the court had found that Mr Woyome had colluded with defunct UT Bank to hide the properties from the state.
The assets 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 state then filed an application for a reserve price which has been adopted by the Supreme Court, pegging the price of two of his mansions – one located at Trasacco Valley and another at Kpehe in Accra – at GH¢11.7 million.
The price of another mansion at Trasacco Valley and his quarry is yet to be determined as the state strengthens its efforts to reclaim the money.
Renegotiation
Mr Woyome has since written to the A-G for an opportunity to renegotiate terms of payments in installments.
He also indicated in the letter that his lawyers intend to file a motion for stay of execution of the Supreme Court orders but wanted audience with the A-G before filing it.
But the A-G in a response signed by Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, rejected the proposed meeting for renegotiation.
The letter indicated, “In the note and letters you requested a meeting with the Attoney-General’s team to negotiate the outstanding judgment debt. “Unfortunately, the honourable Attorney-General is unable to grant your request for obvious reasons.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak