The question as to whether businessman, Alfred Abgesi Woyome, had a contract with government for which he was eventually awarded a judgement debt of GH¢51,283,480.59 because government failed to honour its side of the contract was yesterday answered in court by the businessman.
Taking to the dock at a Fast Track High Court (Financial Division) to continue his evidence-in-chief, Mr. Alfred Woyome, submitted letters from the Attorney-General’s department as proof that there was a contract between him and the Government of Ghana (GOG).
Led in evidence by his lead Lawyer, Osafo Buabeng, Woyome referred to Exhibit 2, tendered in evidence earlier, which was the Attorney-General’s letter to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Kwabena Duffour as proof of a contract between him and the GOG.
In that letter, the role of Mr. Woyome in providing financial engineering services was acknowledged and a recommendation that 2% of the total amount of money he sourced for Ghana (due to be paid to him and Austro-Invest) be paid to him directly.
He told the court that the Attorney-General, in her opinion, stated that he (Woyome) and his team were entitled to their claim due to the illegal abrogation of the contract between them and Government. He said the Attorney-General was right since the process of arranging the over €1.1 billion for Ghana at the time was difficult because the government had declared the country a Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) and as such it was almost impossible to engage in any financial dealing with any country on behalf of Ghana. However, in the midst of this, he and his team were able to secure a MIGA guarantee for and on behalf of Ghana and the Letter of Support which Government was to accept on or before 30th September, 2005.
According to the businessman, a contract is deemed to have come into being between an entity and the GOG if the Procurement Board issues a concurrent approval to a bid. He said the Procurement board, having done its due diligence, issued a concurrent approval on the 5th August, 2005 to the financial package he sourced for the state, bringing into being a binding contract between him and Government, and since the Government wrongly terminated it, he was entitled to an arrangement fee for his financial engineering services. Mr. Woyome, at this stage, produced Exhibit 7, a letter which was earlier tendered in evidence, written by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to the Attorney-General dated 25th March, 2010 explaining and endorsing the 2% claim for the financial engineering. The letter explained that financial engineering was a very complex process and thus per international best practices, a person who successfully provides this kind of service is paid between its 2% to 5% of the total amount secured. The letter also stated the amount arranged by Mr. Woyome’s consortium, that is €1,106,470,587.00, for which the claim was being made.
The letter indicated that the evaluation team (Headed by the Deputy Governor of the Bank (Ghana) adjudged Mr. Woyome and his team’s financial package as the best and therefore recommended them for the project. The letter was clear on the point that his claim for the 2% of the total amount arranged was legitimate. Mr. Woyome took the opportunity to explain to the court in brief what Financial Engineering is all about.
Asked about his position on the 9th prosecution witness’ (the police investigator) assertion that no money was paid into the account of Government, he averred that, that position was incorrect and simply based on a letter wrongly written to the Austrian authorities, which to him was embarrassing. He said he has never stated anywhere that money was transferred to Ghana; he said his claim was that funds had been arranged which Government was to accept before a date, which they did not.
He gave details of the letter which was written by the Attorney General’s Department to Austrian authorities, explaining that the supposed Letter of Request was requesting to know if the Austrian authorities had sent money to the Government of Ghana. The letter was also verifying the signatures on the offer letter to Government. He said interestingly, one of the signatories was the one who responded to the letter. Mr. Woyome told the court that Government, acting through the Attorney-General knew that in all financial dealings, when monies/amounts are arranged, they are not transferred, but are only assessed by certificates of work done, certified by the Ministry of Finance and the contracting authorities (by the contractor in execution of the project).
He said it was through same arrangement that he got Bank Austria to finance for the GOG the Sogakofe, Gushiegu and Begro hospitals, all completed projects on the ground and which are rendering health services to Ghanaians today. He noted that in that arrangement, involving the same GOG, no money was physically transferred into the account of the GOG; the monies were sourced through certificates issued/awarded for completed work done. Mr. Woyome said the incorrect letter from the Attorney-General soliciting for information, naturally received an incorrect answer.
The businessman also introduced Exhibit 24 which was had also already been tendered in evidence. The Exhibit is a letter written by Ministry of Justice to the late President Atta Mills. It was authored by the Deputy Attorney-General at the time, Hon. Ebo Barton-Odro. Part of the letter stated that the consortium put up by Mr. Woyome was mandated by the GOG to source for funding for twelve (12) youth centres, hospitals, etc and that Mr. Woyome's claim was based on the Consortium's financial proposal which would have brought in funding for projects totaling €1,106,470,587.00.
Another Exhibit which was also produced was a letter written by Hon. Agyemang Manu, Deputy Finance Minister at the time. It was the Letter of Introduction addressed to Bank Austria and Exim Bank. In the letter, it was stated that the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning was aware of a meeting to take place between Mr. Woyome, and Vamed on one hand and the banks. The letter asked the banks to assist Woyome and Vamed to conclude the loan deal and a term sheet presented to the Ministry for consideration. The concluding part of the letter said Woyome and Vamed could not sign any agreement on behalf of Government of Ghana. Mr. Woyome said the import of the concluding paragraph of the letter was that the Ministry recognized him and Vamed as entities separate from Government, and that any arrangement agreed must be brought to the government in Ghana to be taken through the legal process. This, he said was done; the agreement was brought to Ghana and was given the concurrent approval by the Central Tender Review Board.
On the issue of Austro-Invest, Mr. Woyome stated that he contracted them to do finance syndication, but they did not do it and he had to directly deal with the people who did it for him.
He said when Austro-Invest demanded payment later on, he told them they were not entitled to any. He thus paid directly to the people who did the syndication. He told the court Austro-Invest at this stage contracted Lithur Brew Chambers, a law firm owned by Tony Lithur and Marietta Brew Oppong-Appiah, the current Attorney-General to file a suit against him in court demanding payment. He said the summons was served on him and the Attorney-General at the time. Tony Lithur and Marietta Brew, he said, discontinued their court action when he paid the Directors of M-Powapak $1 million through them. A copy of the writ of summons filed against him, and the application to discontinue with the suit were tendered in evidence to the court.
Sitting was adjourned to today, 26th June, 2014.
