Waterville Unmasked

…Andrea Orlandi Exposed As Evidence Pops Up Showing They Agreed To Share €25 Million ‘Booty With Woyome & Co.!

Contrary to the position articulated by Mr. Andrea Orlandi, Managing Director of Waterville at his March 12, 2012 Press Conference that “MR. WOYOME HAD NO ROLE IN THE CLAIMS WATERVILLE MADE TO THE GOVERNMENT FOR REIMBURSEMENT OR COMPENSATION AGAINST LOSS”, a document in possession of The New Crusading GUIDE (courtesy of Mr. Kofi Adams, Deputy General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress – NDC), show that the Waterville Managing Director was absolutely economical with the facts.

Mr. Adams first made public the document on Joy FM’s news analysis programme, NEWSFILE last Saturday, March 17, 2012.

The contents of the document clearly showed that Waterville Holdings (BVI) and Mr. Woyome had agreed to ‘share’ the proceeds of Waterville’s dubious €25 million claim against the Government of Ghana. This flies in the face of the spirited attempt by Mr. Orlandi to ‘distance’ Mr. Woyome and M-Powapak from Waterville’s 2009/2010 claim against the Government of Ghana.

It will be recalled that Mr. Orlandi had told the media that “M-Powapak, a firm represented by Mr. Alfred Woyome, was hired for a fee by Waterville to provide financial advisory and consulting services for a limited period to assist in Waterville’s financing the stadia contract. Waterville made full payment to M-Powapak and Mr. Woyome for their services. Waterville terminated their services at the end of the period as far back as 2006”.

In spite of the above assertion by Mr. Orlandi, there is documentary evidence to show that Waterville had in November 2010 agreed to pay Mr. Woyome nearly €5 million out of the €25 million ‘booty’ they (Waterville) had ‘won’ via a mediation process supervised by Lawyer Ekow Awoonor.

An Agreement dated November 26, 2010 which was signed by Mr. Andrea Orlandi for Waterville and Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome on his own behalf, reveals that Waterville Holdings (BVI) and Alfred Agbesi Woyome had negotiated a deal to the effect that: “Waterville Holdings (BVI) shall, upon receipt of the payment of each of the instalments (€5m) set out in paragraph 10 above, pay to Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the sum of €940,000,000 through the following account details:

Bank Name: Access Bank Ghana Limited Account Name: Alfred Agbesi Woyome Account No: 0011250027821 (FCA) – EURO Account Type: Domiciliary Accounts Account Currency: EURO TCR EUR Correspondence Bank: HSBC, London MIDL GB22 Account With Institution: Access Bank UK Limited Swift Code: ABNGGB2L Account No: 59417042 Beneficiary Bank/Institution: Access Bank (Gh) Limited Swift Code: ABNGGHAC Account No: (230) 00044905”

The above bank and account details were subsequently modified by the effect of a Supplementary Agreement dated February 2, 2011 signed by Mr. Orlandi and Mr. Woyome; underscoring that the parties had agreed to substitute paragraph 11(1) of the Agreement dated 26 November 2010 with the following:

“Waterville Holdings (BVI) Limited and Alfred Agbesi Woyome have agreed as follows:

“(i) Waterville Holdings (BVI) Limited shall upon receipt of the payment of each of the instalments set out in paragraph 10 above, pay to Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the sum of €940,000,000 through the following account details:

Bank Name: Ghana International Bank Cheapside Street EC 2P 2 BB London Swift Code: GH1BGB2L Account No: 00001142903 / BANGB20GH/B60926301142903 Beneficiary Bank: Agricultural Development Bank, Ghana Swift Code: ABNGGHAC In favour of: Alfred Agbesi Woyome Account No: 1162400000245

“The parties hereby agreed that all other terms and conditions of the Agreement dated 26 November, 2010, remain valid”, emphasised the Supplementary Agreement of February 2, 2011 signed by Orlandi and Woyome.

The 26 November, 2010 Agreement had provided a historical account of the relationship between Waterville Holdings (BVI) Limited and Mr. Woyome and Austro-Invest relative to their collaboration and co-operation towards “the bidding and execution of the CAN 2008 Project”.

According to the Agreement, it was Mr. Woyome who invited Waterville Holdings (BVI) Limited “to take the place of Vamed Engineering, an Austrian Company of which Woyome was a consultant”, and that Vamed Engineering, after having been “given a concurrent approval by the NATIONAL PROCUREMENT BOARD for the rehabilitation of the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium, Baba Yara Sports Stadium and El-Wak Sports Stadium among others (projects) dated 5 August, 2005”, “at no cost to Waterville Holdings (BVI) Limited assigned its right under the contract to Waterville Holdings (BVI)”.

According to paragraph 4 of the Agreement, Waterville Holdings (BVI) Limited and Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome then proceeded to “expend various sums of money towards the execution of the project”.

“Alfred Agbesi Woyome and Group under the name of Austro-Invest signed MoU with Waterville Holdings (BVI) for the distribution of proceeds of the contracts… The MoU between Alfred Agbesi Woyome Group under the name Austro-Invest and Waterville Holdings (BVI) was terminated UPON PAYMENT OF CERTAIN SUMS FROM THE SUB CONTRACTORS TO ALFRED AGBESI WOYOME AND GROUP WHEREUPON IT WAS AGREED ALFRED AGBESI WOYOME AND WATERVILLE HOLDINGS (BVI) WOULD CO-OPERATE AND CLAIM DAMAGES FOR WRONGFUL TERMINATION OF CONTRACT”, paragraphs 5&7 of the 26 November Agreement revealed.

Waterville Holdings (BVI) then “engaged the services of Peasah-Boadu & Co., a Law Firm to pursue THE CLAIM FOR DAMAGES FOR WRONGFUL TERMINATION OF THE CONTRACTS”, noted paragraph 8 of the November 26, 2010 Agreement signed by Mr. Orlandi and Mr. Woyome.

The Agreement continued: “FOLLOWING SUCCESSFUL MEDIATION FOR THE CLAIM FOR DAMAGES FOR WRONGFUL TERMINATION, WATERVILLE HOLDINGS (BVI) AND THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA HAVE BY AN AGREEMENT DATED 13 OCTOBER, 2010, SETTLED THE CLAIM AT A TOTAL SUM OF €25,000,000.00 THROUGH A MEDIATOR APPOINTED BY BOTH PARTIES”.

The Agreement dated 13 October, 2010, according to Mr. Orlandi and Mr. Woyome, “provided that the sum of €25,000,000.00 shall be paid to Waterville Holdings (BVI) by the Republic of Ghana in five (5) equal instalments as follows:

*(i) Five Million Euros (€5,000,000.00) on or before 31 January, 2011

*(ii) Five Million Euros (€5,000,000.00) on or before 30 April, 2011

*(iii) Five Million Euros (€5,000,000.00) on or before 31 July, 2011

*(iv) Five Million Euros (€5,000,000.00) on or before 31 October, 2011

*(v) Five Million Euros (€5,000,000.00) on or before 31 December, 2011”

Mr. Woyome, per the Agreement, became the beneficiary of €940,000,000.00 each time an instalment of €5 million was paid to Waterville by the Government of Ghana. The latest development does not help the attempt Mr. Orlandi made at his press conference, to “clarify the relationship and involvement of Mr. Alfred Woyome in securing of the contract for the stadia, the execution of the contract up to the time that it was withdrawn by the Government”.

Waterville had been accused of colluding with Mr. Woyome in the latter’s Gh¢51.2 million claim against the Government of Ghana by effect of an April 20, 2010 letter Mr. Orlandi wrote to the Attorney-General, underscoring that “the claim for Mr. Woyome to the Government of Ghana is in respect of financial engineering purposely structured for the CAN 2008…”

Responding to a question posed by Alfred Ogbamey, Editor of the Gye Nyame Concord as to the rationale for that letter, Mr. Orlandi claimed that it was the Attorney-General (Betty Mould-Iddrisu) who requested that letter, even though the very first paragraph of that letter suggested otherwise as it read: “Further to Mr. Woyome’s letter to us dated 19 April, 2010 by which he requested confirmation to your office (Attorney-General’s Office) about the financial structuring aspects as part of the project for the construction and rehabilitation of stadia in Ghana for CAN 2008”.

The significance of the April 20, 2010 lies in the fact that before that letter was written, there had been a ‘tug-of-war’ between Waterville and Woyome over the credibility, veracity and quantum of each other’s claim against the Government to the extent that the Attorney General had to call a meeting on February 3, 2010 to discuss the “conflicting claims between Waterville Holdings and Alfred Agbesi Woyome of M-Powapak regarding payments due to either party”.

On August 18, 2009, Mr. Woyome had written to the Minister of Youth & Sports, Rashid Pelpuo, insisting that Waterville’s original €33 million claim for compensation was “grossly exaggerated”.

He also contended that “M-Powapak Ltd., Austro-Invest and myself are interested parties…” and that “The claim by Waterville BVI should have been a joint claim by M-Powapak, Alfred Woyome, and Austro-Invest”.

“THE QUANTUM OF WATERVILLE BVI’S DEMAND IS FAR ABOVE WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE LEGITIMATE CLAIM. M-POWAPAK, AUSTRO-INVEST, ALEXANDRA VAN-CLEEF (AUSTRO-INVEST REPRESENTATIVE IN THE UNITED STATES) AND ALFRED WOYOME’S LEGITIMATE CLAIM UNDER THIS CIRCUMSTANCE IS EURO 6 MILLION WHILE WATERVILLE’S CLAIM SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT EURO 5 MILLION WITHOUT INTEREST, CHARGES AND DAMAGES”, cried Woyome.

Interestingly, Mr. Woyome further disclosed that Waterville BVI had already “received some compensation from Micheletti and Co. and from Consar Ltd. (the main contractor for the Kumasi Stadium). Austro-Invest also received some form of compensation from Waterville BVI”.

“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 6 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 my consortium had won and had started actual construction of some of the projects and also fully in the middle of full mobilization to move to other sites”, concluded Woyome in his August 18, 2009 letter which was also copied to the Secretary to the President, the Attorney-General & Minister of Justice and the Minister of Finance & Economic Planning.

It was Mr. Woyome’s August 18, 2009 letter which attracted a ‘killer response’ from Waterville in a letter dated November 20, 2009 in which the latter underscored that “…THE STADIA CONTRACTS WERE CONTRACTED BETWEEN WATERVILLE AND THE GOVERNMENT OF GHANA (GOG); NEITHER POWAPAK NOR WOYOME WAS A PARTY. IT IS THEREFORE WRONGFUL FOR MR. WOYOME OR POWAPAK TO MAKE A CLAIM IN A CONTRACT OF WHICH NEITHER IS A PARTY”.

Waterville’s response by their Lawyer at that time, Mr. Kwame Tetteh, revealed that “Waterville did engage M-Powapak to provide Waterville with financial engineering services but the relationship was terminated by a Termination Agreement dated 25 November 2006, (the Agreement). Powapak’s claims against Waterville were fully settled and acknowledged in the Agreement. Therefore neither Powapak nor Woyome has any claim against Waterville. A copy of the Settlement Agreement with Powapak is annexed”.

The November 20, 2009 Waterville letter under reference was addressed to the Attorney-General, and copied to the Minister of Youth & Sports (Rashid Pelpuo), Minister of Finance and Economic Planning (Dr. Kwabena Duffour), the Secretary to the President (J.K. Bebaako-Mensah) and Mr. Woyome.

Mr. Woyome didn’t take things lying down. He fired a ‘counter-offensive’ response to the Attorney-General, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, insisting that Mr. Tetteh’s “FACTS ARE WRONG AND THIS MIGHT BE DUE TO INSUFFICIENT/INCOMPLETE OR MISLEADING INFORMATION GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS CLIENT (WATERVILLE)”.

Boasting that “the CAN 2008 project was conceived and mainly brought to its conclusion by me, M-Powapak (of which I am alternate director) and Austro-Invest”, Mr. Woyome also claimed that “Waterville was brought on board through Mr. Ernesto Taricone who approached me through the Consultants; Building Industry Consultants (The Supervisory Consultants of the CAN 2008 stadia construction”.

He continued: “Waterville was in existence before I was contacted but I helped to form Waterville Austria and later helped to mould Micheletti Company Limited. Consar Limited was also introduced to the project by me when BIC introduced the owner to me”.

“In my letter of 18 August, 2009, I never stated that Waterville owes Mr. Woyome. I rather disputed the claim of Waterville on Government and introduced my claim which should have been part (joint) of Waterville’s claim on Government”, Woyome explained.

Woyome then proposed “a round table meeting of all parties to prove and justify all claims to bring this matter to a speedy conclusion”.

His letter was also copied to the Minister of Youth & Sports (Rashid Pelpuo), Secretary to the President (J.K. Bebaako-Mensah), Minister of Finance & Economic Planning (Dr. Kwabena Duffour), Waterville, Building Industry Consultants (BIC) among others.

In spite of the ‘tug-of-war’ between Waterville and Woyome, the two eventually settled their differences, and that ‘settlement’ was reflected in the April 20, 2010 letter Waterville wrote to the Attorney-General virtually supporting Mr. Woyome’s Gh¢51.2m claim against the Government.

It was this ‘settlement’ which former Attorney-General, Martin Amidu captured in his amended writ; section e of the “particulars of fraud” thus: “THAT THE DEFENDANT (WOYOME) COLLUDED WITH WATERVILLE TO WRITE TO THE PLAINTIFF (ATTORNEY-GENERAL-GOVT) MISREPRESENTING AND SUPPORTING THE CLAIMS OF THE DEFENDANT WHEN BOTH DEFENDANT AND WATERVILE KNEW THAT THE DEFENDANT DID NOT HAVE ANY CLAIMS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT”.

Please see page two (2) or (attached for online documents versions) of this edition for the re-production of the full details of both the November 26, 2010 Agreement and the February 2, 2011 Supplementary Agreement between Waterville and Woyome, and stay tuned for more exposures of Waterville’s duplicity and fraud against the Government and People of Ghana.