Supreme Court is persecuting me – Woyome ‘cries’

Embattled businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, has accused Ghana’s Supreme Court of persecuting him in the controversial GHc51 million judgment debt case. “I am speaking as a citizen, and I feel that the Supreme Court is persecuting me,” he lamented. His comment comes on the back of the Supreme Court’s approval for him to be orally examined by former Attorney General, Martin Amidu.

Mr. Amidu filed an application at the apex court, after the Attorney General (AG) discontinued the process to examine Mr. Woyome, despite serving an earlier notice to do same. The Supreme Court however upheld Mr. Amidu’s application, but Mr. Woyme while speaking in a Facebook live interview with Graphic Online after the ruling, said “I disagree with the Supreme Court’s judgment today.”

Mr. Woyome further made his case on why he thinks the Supreme Court is pursuing him, saying that, after an earlier judgment served on him to pay the GHc 51 million, the Supreme Court rejected his mode of payment. According to him, he had wanted to pay GHc4 million, and spread the rest over a period of time; but his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court.

“I proposed to pay 4 million cedis and pay the rest in the following months…but the Supreme Court denied and threw it out,” he said. Mr. Woyome complained that, after the rejection of his mode of payment, the Supreme Court further ordered the Attorney General to valuate his properties saying such a move was to “disgrace me.” He also cited a number of cases which to him shows that the court was against him.

Background Alfred Woyome was paid ¢51 million after he claimed that he helped Ghana to raise funds to construct stadia for purposes of hosting the CAN 2008 Nations Cup. However an Auditor General’s report released in 2010, said the amount was paid illegally to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier.

The Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back the amount, after Mr. Martin Amidu challenged the legality of the judgment debt paid the businessman, Waterville, and Isofoton.

Following delays in retrieving the money, the Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney-General clearance to execute the court’s judgment ordering Mr. Woyome to refund the cash to the state.

Woyome prevents officials from valuing residence Mr. Woyome in April 2016, prevented officials of the Attorney General’s Department and the Lands Commission from having access to his Kpehe residence for valuation. The move was part of a directive from the Supreme Court to retrieve monies illegally paid to him. But Woyome resisted the move, saying the planned valuation was illegal. Mr. Woyome had earlier won the criminal prosecution that sought to imprison him for the offence.