Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Thursday, November 03, 2016
Pressure group OccupyGhana is not happy
about the Attorney General’s attempt to abandon the retrieval of the GH¢51.2
million unlawfully paid to embattled Alfred Agbesi Woyome by the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
It has emerged that the AG has filed a
notice to discontinue dragging Mr. Woyome to court to give oral evidence on why
he has refused to refund the huge amount of money to the state in spite of the
court’s order.
Withdrawal Process
The application to withdraw the process
that would have seen Mr. Woyome - a leading member of the NDC - back in court
to testify on his assets, was said to have been filed on October 26, 2016, but
the pressure group claims the AG had taken steps to protect some alleged
accomplices in the loot.
“OccupyGhana is shocked, horrified,
disgusted and dismayed to discover that as we suspected and feared, there is a
current attempt by the Attorney General of the Republic of Ghana to abandon or
discontinue the current recovery steps being taken to compel Alfred Woyome to
disclose where his assets are and possibly how he disbursed GH₵51,000,000 of OUR MONEY, so that it
can be returned to Ghana,” it lamented in a strongly-worded statement
yesterday.
Pressure On AG
“We have seen a ‘Notice of
Discontinuance’ filed by the Attorney General on 26th October, 2016,
discontinuing the present application to orally examine Woyome,” the group
said, adding that “immense pressure was brought to bear on the AG to abandon
the process.”
According to OccupyGhana, it had to issue
a statement earlier encouraging the AG to pursue the matter because it had
information that elements in the NDC government were pressurizing the AG’s
Department to drop the action.
“The key concern, we learnt, had to do
with Woyome being compelled to disclose how he spent our money, because the
answer to that question would reveal the names of all the persons who
benefitted from the money.
“What we did not believe at the time was
that the very next day after our statement, the Attorney General would so
easily cave in to the pressure and abandon probably the only option left to
Ghana to recover OUR MONEY from Woyome.”
NDC Scared
OccupyGhana said, “It is clear to us that
this government and its Attorney General are either scared of Woyome or do not
have the moral courage to pursue him for our money. We cannot forget that this
government deliberately bungled the civil case it reluctantly filed to claim
the money from Woyome, and secretly paid the money to him at a time when that
case was still pending, and when the court had allowed the government to hold
on to at least two-thirds of the money.”
The pressure group said if former
Attorney General Martin Amidu had not been vigilant, “Woyome might never have
been compelled to refund our money.”
Farcical Process
“What we have seen, since that judgment,
is probably the slowest, tardiest and most reluctant enforcement steps in the
history of this nation. Ghanaians are now being told that the affluent Woyome,
who took and splurged our GH₵51,000,000 as if it was some pocket change, is now broke, has sold all his assets and there is nothing against
which we can recover our money. This farcical and ludicrous position confirms
that this government has no interest in recovering our money.”
OccupyGhana said it suspects that “any
attempt to trace those monies would make some persons in this government very
uncomfortable.”
The Pursuit
The group said it would be wrong for the
AG to hold that that was the end of the matter since there is no pending
application for it to be discontinued.
“That application has been moved and
granted already. What there is now is a valid and subsisting order of the
Supreme Court, which cannot be discontinued by any party. Until it is set aside
or vacated by the Supreme Court itself, that order remains. We expect that on
10th November, 2016, Woyome will still show up in court. If he refuses to show
up, the Supreme Court could compel his attendance.”
It added that “Woyome is a witness of the
court, having been summoned on the orders of the court. Thus, even if the Attorney
General refuses to attend the 10th November, 2016 proceedings to examine
Woyome, the Supreme Court itself has the power to ask those relevant questions,
and Woyome would be compelled to answer them and provide all the information
required.”
OccupyGhana again said Mr. Amidu, who is
still alive, is a party to the court action, adding, “He has every right to
appear in court on 10th November and seek the permission of the court to
examine Woyome, whether the Attorney General shows up or not.”
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