AG "sided" with Amidu in Isofoton mess - NDC lawyer

A member of the National Democratic Congress legal team, Abraham Amaliba, has described as a “mess” the judgement debt case involving Spanish company Isofoton SA.

He is, therefore, not surprised that the Attorney General, Marietta Brew Oppong, “sided” with Martin Amidu in court and supported the claim by Amidu that monies illegally paid to Isofoton must be refunded to the state.

His comments, made on Multi TV and Joy FM’s news analysis programme Newsfile, on Saturday, come just a day after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Amidu and ordered the Spanish Company to pay back close to about $400,000 it received in 2011.

The court also ruled that the company must pay the interest accrued on the money from the day the payment was made to them.

Martin Amidu has since been applauded for his vigilance and commitment to help the country retrieve illegal monies paid.

On Newsfile, Abraham Amaliba explained that the circumstances under which the monies were paid were a bit messy.

He said some officials may have been misled into believing that the contract had been approved by Parliament which consequently led to the payment to Isofoton.

He said having been named as a defendant in the Isofoton case and reading the statement of claim by the applicant, Martin Amidu, the Attorney General had no option but to side with him [Martin Amidu] for petitioning the Supreme Court over the matter.

He quoted paragraph 25 of the Attorney General’s statement to the Supreme Court which actually agreed with the claims made by Amidu and supported the view that the monies paid to Isofoton must be refunded.

His revelations follow similar comments by the Deputy Attorney General Dominic Ayine which claimed that the Attorney Generals Department assisted Martin Amidu in securing judgement against Waterville, a claim, Amidu has rejected.

Kweku Baako Jnr who is a regular panel on Newsfile said the Supreme Court ruling would not have been necessary if the government had listened to the recommendation by its own committee of professional group instituted to investigate the Isofoton scandal.

He said most of the judgement debts came about because some politicians were in a haste to have opponents punished without making the necessary due diligence.