Supreme Court: Woyome's oral examination doesn't infringe on his rights

The Supreme Court has struck out an application seeking to halt the oral examination filed by embattled businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

A three-member panel presided over by Justice William Atuguba by a unanimous decision on Wednesday, 31st January, 2018 dismissed the application.

This follows another application he had filed to stop the process, seeking to retrieve the GHc 51 million judgment debt wrongfully paid to him by the state.

Mr. Woyome had prayed the Supreme Court to stay proceedings on the oral examination since he had filed for a review of the case.

But the apex court, on Wednesday ruled that allowing Mr Woyome to be orally examined does not breach his human rights as espoused by the embattled businessman.

Background

Mr. Woyome was paid the GHc 51 million after claiming he helped Ghana raise funds to construct stadia for the hosting of the 2008 African Cup of Nations.

However, an Auditor General’s report released in 2010, held that the amount was paid illegally to him.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back the money, after Martin Amidu, the Special Prosecutor nominee and a private legal practitioner at the time, challenged the legality of the payments.

Following delays in retrieving the money, 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.

There had been previous attempts to orally examine Mr. Woyome, with Mr. Amidu himself, in 2016, filing an application at the Supreme Court to find out how the businessman was going to pay back the money.

This came after the Attorney General’s office under the Mahama Administration, led by the former Minister for Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, discontinued a similar application.

In February 2017 however, Mr. Amidu withdrew his suit seeking an oral examination, explaining that the change of government and the assurance by the new Attorney General to retrieve all judgment debts wrongfully paid to individuals, had given him renewed confidence in the system.