Alfred Agbesi Woyome
A Chief State Attorney at the Office of the Attorney General, Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, has been removed from the Roll of Lawyers by the General Legal Council (GLC), thereby prohibiting him from ever practicing as a lawyer in Ghana.
The lawyer, who was just one rank from the position of a Director of Public Prosecutions, was disbarred by the GLC after he was found guilty of collecting GH¢400,000 from embattled businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome in 2011.
He was hauled before the Disciplinary Committee of the GLC on one count under Rule 2(2) of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct and Etiquette) Rules, 1969 (L.I 613) which states that “It is the duty of every lawyer at all times to uphold the dignity and high standing of his profession and his own dignity and high standing as a member of it.”
Per the charge, Mr. Nerquaye-Tetteh was accused of having an amount of GH¢400,000 transferred into the bank account of his wife Mrs. Gifty Nerquaye-Tetteh on June 16, 2011.
Mr. Nerquaye-Tetteh was one of the public lawyers from the Office of the then Attorney General, Martin Alamisi Amidu, who handled the Woyome case in which he was paid a whopping GH¢51 million as judgement debt on a non-existent contract for the construction of stadia for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) hosted in Ghana.
He was, however, unable to provide any reasonable explanation for the transfer of the funds, “a conduct or act that adversely affects the dignity and high standing of the legal profession,” a statement issued by the Judicial Secretary Cyra Pamela Tenkorang indicated.
“Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh shall not hold himself out as a lawyer or attend chambers or render or purport to render any professional legal service to the public. The practicing licence of Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh is hereby withdrawn forthwith,” the statement added.
The GH¢400,000 was transferred into the bank account of Mr. Nerquaye-Tetteh’s wife at the time when there was pressure on the businessman to refund the money illegally paid him.
The Supreme Court on June 14, 2013 ordered Waterville Holdings (BVI) Ltd to refund all monies paid to it by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government as judgement debt over the termination of an ‘illegally’ awarded contract for rehabilitation works on the Accra Sports Stadium for the AFCON 2008 hosted by Ghana.
The Office of the Attorney General under the John Mahama administration was, however, reluctant to retrieve the debt and subsequently delayed the processes of seeking direction from the court regarding the enforcement of the orders.
Woyome then instituted two separate actions at the International Court of Arbitration against the Government of Ghana, challenging the decision of the Supreme Court for his company to refund the money.
Both actions were dismissed by the court and two of his properties have since been sold to offset part of the debt, with outstanding debt of GH¢32,766,697, nine (9) years after he was ordered by the Supreme Court to pay a judgement debt of GH¢51,283,480.59 to the state.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak