Woyome Wins Court Case

Businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, on Thursday chalked a major legal victory when a Court of Appeal in Accra, set aside some adverse findings in the Judgement Debt Commission report against him.

According to the three panel of Justices in the Appeals Court, the Judgement Debt Commission breached the rules of natural justice by not allowing Mr. Alfred Woyome an opportunity to appear before it, after he was found to have received payments as judgment debt in a manner they believe was illegally done.

In the view of the judges, Mr.  Woyome ought to have been given a hearing, indicating that a person ought to be heard before being condemned.

The court presided over by Justice Victor Ofoe held that the Commission moved beyond examining records of payment to assess circumstances leading to the payment and as such ought to have invited Mr.  Woyome to hear his explanation in a fair manner.

Justice Ofoe however, stated that the decision of the court does not affect the order of the Supreme Court ordering the businessman to refund the GH₵51.2 million Judgement debt wrongly paid to him by the state.

Suit

Alfred Woyome, dissatisfied with the findings of the Sole Commissioner as accepted by the government, in its White Paper dated November 18, 2015 filled an appeal at the Court.

Woyome prayed the Court to set aside the findings of the Sole Commissioner against him for breach of natural justice.

He also wanted an order directed at the Attorney General to expunge from the White Paper and the report of the Sole Commissioner the findings and decision pertaining to him.

The embattled businessman, among other reliefs, also sought an order directed at the Attorney General to expunge from all internet search engines such as google, yahoo and other media outlets any mention of the him in the White Paper of the report of the Sole Commissioner.

The lawyers of the businessman sought an order that the Sole Commissioner erred in fact and in law when he found that the Attorney General in deciding to negotiate with Woyome for the payment of the cedi equivalent of €22 129,501.74 to him as representing 2% of the alleged financial engineering cost was ignorant about the facts of the case the appellant plead in court.

Mr. Woyome also wants the court to declare that Sole Commissioner again erred in fact and in law when he found that the AG went ahead and finally ordered for the payment of the said amount scrutiny of the appellant’s claim and due diligence.

SC Rules

The Supreme Court, last year, ordered that part of the findings of the Sole Commissioner of the Judgment Debt Commission must be expunged from government’s White Paper.

The Court by a unanimous decision ruled that the findings of the Justice Yaw Apau Commission relating to the Alfred Agbesie Woyome and the Attorney General as well as the Sky Consult Vrs Ghana Post cases were unconstitutional.

The court held that the Justice Apau Commission’s report was in breach of Articles 125 (1) (3) 127 (1) of the constitution and amounted to judicial interference and a violation of the independence of the judiciary.

In the wake of the many judgement debt scandals that rocked the country in 2012, ex-president John Mahama caused to be constituted a judgement debt commission to look into the many judgment scandals at the time.

Chaired by Justice Yaw Appau, the Sole Commission was inaugurated on October 8, 2012 to ascertain the causes of any inordinate payments made from public funds in satisfaction of judgment debts since the 1992 Constitution came into force; to ascertain the causes of any inordinate payments from public funds and financial losses arising from arbitration awards, negotiated settlements and akin processes since the 1992 Constitution came into force.

It was also to make recommendations to the government for ensuring that, as far as practicable, the instances where public funds are utilized to make payments in satisfaction of judgment debts and public debts arising from akin processes are limited or avoided and to that government does not incur undue financial losses when it does business with private persons or institutions.

For more than two years, the Sole Commissioner looked into many high-profile judgement debt cases including the infamous Woyome case, the Tsastu Tsikata, Akufo-Addo drill ship saga Sky Consult Vrs Ghana Post all of which had caused the country millions of dollars in debts.

The Commissioner submitted its findings to the government in May 20, 2015 and pointed to some breaches in procedure and law by government and public officials which led to causing financial loss to the State.

By: Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson/ thePublisher