Embattled businessman Alfred Agbesie Woyome is accusing functionaries of the state of perpetrating 419, or fraud against him.
Mr Woyome insists the “obnoxious” law in the statutes which allows investors to spend or waste money on projects only for functionaries of the state to run to court with a claim that the agreement is not ratified by Parliament and so it must be considered null and void cannot bode well for a nation seeking foreign direct investment.
Speaking with Francis Abban, host of Pulse, a Joy News program on Multi TV, Woyome said such a conduct has dire repercussion on the country and cited cases involving Balkan energy.
“Why should Article 181 make everybody know that when you bring your money to Ghana and do the work and the politician sign the contract with you, they run back to court and tell the court that me, the politician I didn’t send the agreement to Parliament. The politician is not sanctioned at all, and the person loses his money. Is that not 419?
“I will pursue the case to its logical conclusion,” he swore.
Woyome returns to court Thursday, to face his biggest adversary, Martin Amidu in a make or break cross-examination meant to unravel how a ¢51 million judgment debt paid to him in 2010 would be recovered to the state.
He had received the amount based on a claim that he assisted the erstwhile Kufuor government to raise money for the building of a stadia meant for the CAN 2008 tournament.
But that payment was deemed to be unconstitutional thanks to an application brought before the court by former Martin Amidu.
The Supreme Court in July 2014 instructed Woyome to pay back the money he received from the state, but the financier of the governing party has failed to do so.
When the Attorney General Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong brought an application to cross-examine Woyome, many thought the end of the five-year scandal had come to an end and that the country was on the verge of retrieving the money wrongfully paid.
But that hope was dashed when the same AG later withdrew the case from the court claiming the businessman had indicated he was going to pay by providing a new payment plan.
So when Martin Amidu, proceeded to the court with an application to be allowed to cross-examine Woyome, the court granted his wish and set a November 24 date for that showdown.
Barely days to the cross-examination, Alfred Woyome has been firing a gun scatter attack on his biggest adversary Martin Amidu and a section of the media who he claims has fed the public with lies.
Woyome said Amidu and the media had formed the greatest alliance of deceiving the court and public respectively.
When he was asked whether he had spent the ¢51 million a reason why he could not pay back, Woyome had a quick rebuttal.
“Spent! What do you mean by spend? Did Mr Woyome and other people spend money on this country? Are we a 419 country? Why do you present our country as a 419 country. Stop it media! It’s a disgrace,” he said.
Mr Woyome who accused Martin Amidu of paying him the last tranche of the ¢51 million judgment debt as Attorney General, on the same show, produced a memo purported to have been written by the same Martin Amidu saying he had nothing to do with the payment.
He is convinced Martin Amidu has deceived the court but swore to use the same court to exonerate himself.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
