Appeals Court decision on Woyome rendered Sole Commissioner's report useless - Ampaw

Private legal practitioner, Maurice Ampaw, has suggested that, the decision by the Appeals Court to set aside findings by the Sole Commissioner against businessman, Alfred Woyome, has rendered that report useless.

The Court of Appeal on Thursday set aside the findings of Sole Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau, citing a breach of the principles of natural justice.

According to the court, the Commissioner failed to give Mr. Woyome a fair hearing since it moved beyond examining records of payment of the Judgement debt to assess circumstances leading to the payment.

Reacting to the court’s decision, lawyer Ampaw, said by this decision, any other person indicted in the Sole Commissioner’s report, has been cleared of any wrong doing. In his view, we should blame former President John Dramani Mahama, because setting up the Sole Commissioner, was the most useless enquiry.

He noted that, the commissioner failed to give people indicted in the findings a fair hearing and ‘’so the finding is now a bogus finding. Per Woyome’s ruling, the Sole Commissioner was not necessary; it was done in haste, it was done to pretend to Ghanaians that, the government of the day was concerned about judgement debt, but it was done just to cover up Woyome’s misdeeds.’’

The controversial lawyer said the embattled businessman has been vindicated when it comes to the Commission of Enquiry’s work.

But he is not free from the ruling by the Supreme Court for him to refund the money.

‘’Woyome should pay back our money and stop wasting our time. Paying back the money is the most important thing for Ghanaians,’’ he added.

He insisted the commission’s work was shoddy, done in haste and in an unfair manner and the adverse finding would no longer be bidding.

The court’s judgment follows a suit filed by Alfred Woyome in June 2016 where he argued that the Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau, erred in fact and law in reaching his conclusions about him.

The Sole Commission, headed by Justice Yaw Apau, was set up by former President John Mahama in October 2012 to look into the payment of all judgement debts since 1992, following the various judgement debt scandals that rocked the country.

The Commission submitted its findings to the government in May 2015, and highlighted some breaches in due process in governance systems that led to financial loss to the state.