Alfred Agbesi Woyome
Two mansions belonging to the beleaguered National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, will soon be sold to offset part of the GH¢51.2 million he fraudulently received as judgment debt.
The Office of the Attorney-General (A-G) has already begun the processes of auctioning the two mansions to the public as it strengthens efforts to retrieve the money wrongly paid to the NDC financier.
This follows the adoption of the reserved prices on two mansions by the Supreme Court yesterday.
A five-member panel, presided over by Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, yesterday placed a GH¢11.7 million price tag on the two residential homes – one located at Trasacco Valley and another at Kpehe in Accra.
Other panel members included Justices Sulemana Gbadegbe, Alfred A. Benin, Samuel Marful-Sau and Agnes Dordzie.
Reserved Prices
The Office of the A-G on Friday filed a motion at the Supreme Court for a determination of the reserved prices for three of Woyome’s residential properties which the state is selling through public auction.
This is in fulfillment of the judgement of the Supreme Court which ordered the sale of Woyome’s properties after the NDC financier tried to hide some of them in the name of the defunct UT Bank when the state wanted to sell them to defray the cost of the GH¢51.2 million he fraudulently collected from the government for no work done.
Per the re-evaluation done by the Lands Commission, two of the mansions located at Trasacco Valley in Accra have a market value of GH¢11,099,000, with a forced sale value of GH¢7,769,000; GH¢6,407,000, with a forced sale value of GH¢4,485,000 respectively.
The third one which is located at Kpehe, near Caprice in Accra, where Woyome himself is said to reside, has a market value of GH¢3,862,000, with a forced sale value of GH¢2,703,000.
Woyome Valuation
Soon after the state had evaluated the mansions, Woyome also caused an evaluation on the prices which slightly raised the values of the properties.
While the state valued one of the mansions at Trasacco at about GH¢7.8 million, Woyome’s valuation was placed at GH¢8.3 million.
There was also a little upward difference in the forced sale value stated on the Kpehe residence and the report presented by Woyome.
Price Adoption
The Supreme Court after a consideration of the valuations by both parties pegged the prices of the two mansions at GH¢11.7 million.
The mansion at Trasacco is to be sold for GH¢8.3 million, while the one at Kpehe is to be sold for GH¢3.4 million.
Another Property
Later, the courts again ordered the Land Valuation Board to value another property at Trasacco Valley and file the reserved price at the registry by the end of next month.
The state had identified the house as ‘plot number 167’ but after a search by the Lands Commission it turned out that it was rather a resident number 259.
The state valued the property to have a forced sale value of GH¢4,485,000, but Woyome did not include it in the properties he caused to be valued.
The court, therefore, held that it cannot place value on the property based only on the valuation done by the Lands Commission.
It said in the interest of justice and fairness, the mansion should be re-evaluated by the Land Valuation Board. The case resumes on October 16.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak