EOCO presents interim report on Woyome

Accra, Feb. 2, GNA – The Economic and Organised Crime Organisation (EOCO) has indicted Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome for putting in a claim for an amount which by his own documentary submissions he was not entitled to.

“He manipulated documents and information and riding on the negligence (and/or complicity) of public officials, managed to receive money which he was clearly not entitled to,” says an Interim Report released by EOCO on the payment of judgment debts since January 7, 2009 and presented to the President at the Osu Castle.

The report said payments with respect to the abrogation of the stadia contracts to Mr Woyome were as follows - February, 2010 – GH?17,094,493.53; January 27, 2011 – GH?10,000,000.00; April 8, 2011 – GH?10,000,000.00; September 12, 2011 – GH?14,188,987.06 totalling GH? 51,283,480.59.

Waterville Holdings (BVI) Limited, the overseas construction firm whose contract to construct a number of stadia for the Cup of African Nations (CAN) 2000 tournament the report said it was also paid before the year 2009 – 11,935,706.55 Euros; February 4, 2011 – 2,581,667.61 Euros; April 12, 2011 – 5,000,000.00 Euros and September 23, 2011 – 17,618,332.39Euros , also totalling 37,135,706.55 Euros.

Excerpts of the 16-page report signed by Mr B. Mortey Akpadzi, Executive Director of EOCO gave details of the roles played by specific individuals in the whole saga including Mr Yaw Osafo – Maafo, Dr Kofi Amoah, Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah, Mr Rex Danquah, Mr Joe Ghartey, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei and Mr Kwaku Agyemen-Manu, Ministers and officials in Former President Kufuor’s Administration.

Others were, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, Chief State Attorney in Charge of the case at the Attorney Generals (AG)Department whose wife the report said was paid GH? 400,000.00 on June 16, 2011 by Mr Woyome.

The rest included Mr Paul Asimenu, Director– at the Legal Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP).

Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo was the Minister of Education and Sports at the time of the tender for the construction/rehabilitation of stadia for CAN 2008. He was the author of the Cabinet Memo dated July 27, 2005, which informed Cabinet of the illegality of the intended action to abrogate the tender process for the CAN 2008 stadia works. However, he was the same person, who knowing that it was illegal to terminate the process at the stage it had reached, went ahead to do so.

The report said it was yet to be fully established however, whether it was Cabinet, which in spite of being warned about the illegality of the act did so.

Again, payments have been made out of the consolidated fund for contracts which had been signed with foreign entities. The investigations are yet to determine whether or not the contracts were subjected to Parliamentary approval.

According to the report, the refusal by the previous administration to pay Waterville when it was clear that the company had done some work at the instance of the government led to a situation where interest accrued and loss of profit had to be paid after mediation.

Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah was the Deputy Minister who gave the green light for Waterville to proceed to site and start work at a time the contract had not been approved by Parliament.

Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu was the Attorney General who undertook all the negotiations. She was also the person who as the Attorney General should have made sure that the suit in court was defended.

The report said Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh was the Chief State Attorney directly in charge of the Woyome case.

“He admits that he drafted all the letters which Mrs Mould-Iddrisu sent to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning concerning the transactions leading to the payments to Mr Woyome, with the exception of the letter dated December 9, 2010.”

Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh said he was involved in the negotiations which led to the first settlement of more than GH?41 million.

He said when MOFEP refused to pay the money and Mr Woyome went to court, he found it unconscionable to defend the action.

He said he appeared in court and requested MOFEP to provide evidence which they did not have during the first negotiations in which the settlement was reached.

Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh said MOFEP did not get back to him.

The report said as a result, he concluded the Government did not have a defence and therefore did not file one.

“It is worthy of note that the default judgment procured by Mr Woyome out of this singular delinquent action by Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh led to the seeming legitimisation of Mr Woyome’s claim,” the report said .

“The same arguments raised in the case of Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu apply to Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh. Indeed in his case, he was the professional/technical person directly in charge of the case and he was the person who refused to go and defend the action.

“Available evidence so far has confirmed that an amount of GH?400, 000,000.00 was paid to the wife of Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh on June 16, 2011.”

The report said according to Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh, the Chief State Attorney in-charge of the case for the AG’s Department, the Government did not have a defence. There were however enough grounds to defend the action but this was not done.

“In the files at the AG’s Department could be found a lot of evidence which indicated clearly that at the least, Mr Woyome could not establish his case.”

For instance the report said in his own letter to the AG in which he stated that the claim of Waterville was not proper, he also stated that “I use this opportunity to formally demand on my own behalf and on behalf of Austro Invest, M-Powapak and Alexandra Van Cleef the sum of Euro six million in lieu of the CAN 2008 stadia construction bid that was cancelled by the Cabinet of the Government of Ghana illegally when it was clear that the consortium had won”.

”Upon what basis was he later demanding over 22 million Euro? If nothing at all, there could have been a defence against the quantum that Mr Woyome was asking for in court.”

Mr Asimenu, according to the report “assumed a role which helped in creating the conditions which made it possible for Mr Woyome to get paid what he clearly was not due”.