WOYOME'S DAY IN COURT

An Accra based Businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome has been remanded into police custody, after he was refused bail yesterday by an Accra Financial Court over his role in the controversial GH¢51 million judgement debt paid to him.

He has been formally charged with conspiracy to commit crime, defrauding by false pretense and corrupting public officials, when he was arraigned together with three other people before the court, presided over by Justice John Ajet-Nasam.

The three other accused persons are Samuel Nerquaye- Tetteh , a Chief State Attorney, Paul Asimenu, a Director at the Legal Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Gifty Tetteh, Businesswoman and wife of Samuel Tetteh.

Samuel Nerquaye- Tetteh and Paul Asimenu were also remanded into custody, while Gifty Tetteh was admitted into bail in the sum of GH¢500,000.00 with two sureties, with the condition that she reports herself to the police twice a week.

Woyome is alleged to have succeeded in obtaining GH¢51 million from Government, allegedly influence the conduct of the second accused person, Samuel Nerquaye- Tetteh, with an amount of GH¢400,000.00 to create condition for him to be paid the monies.

The third accused person, Asimenu, was alleged to have aided Woyome to defraud, while Gifty Tetteh, fourth accused, aided the second accused person, Samuel Nerquaye- Tetteh , in committing an act of corruption by a public officer.

Woyome is facing three counts of conspiracy to commit crime, defrauding by false pretense and corruption of a public officer, while the second accused person, Samuel Tetteh is facing the charge of corrupting a public officer.

The third and fourth accused persons, Asimenu and Gifty Tetteh respectively, on the other hand are facing the one count of abetment of crime but the third accused person is facing an additional count of conspiracy to commit crime.

All accused persons pleaded not guilty to all the charges leveled against them before the court. The presence of Woyome in court resulted in dozens of loyalists thronging the court premises, in solidarity with the businessman.

The Chief State Attorney, Miss Evelyn Lamptey, requested that the court remand them into custody since they need time to conclude the investigation, adding that granting them bail would lead to interfering with investigations.

In his application for bail, counsel for Woyome, Mr. Robertson Gbatsa told the court that the facts being read in court so far was not entirely the truth and that the amount that were paid to his client was as a result of a judgment of a competent court of law.

According to him, his client would in no way interfere with investigation since he had already provided the necessary documents needed for police investigation, adding that he had been in custody since February 3, 2011, and needs to be granted bail to have access to his lawyer and also have time to prepare for his defense.

The counsels of the rest of the accused persons pleaded for their clients to be granted bail almost on the same grounds. However, the court refused to grant them bail, with the exception of the fourth accused person, Gifty Tetteh, who was noted to be a nursing mother.

The case was therefore adjourned to February 13, 2012, for continuation.

Briefing the court on the facts of the case, the prosecutor mentioned that during 2009, Woyome made a false representation to the then Attorney General, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu that he had a contract with the government of Ghana, regarding the construction of five sports stadia, but the contract was unlawfully abrogated.

She said Woyome filed a writ at the High Court claiming that he was owed an amount of GH¢41 million to which he added interest to make it a total of GH¢51 million. 'The amount was paid in tranches, that is on February 2010, he was paid GH¢ 17,094,493.53, the second tranche was on January 27, 2011, which he was paid GH¢ million, the rest of the tranche was on April 18, 2011 with GH¢10 million and September 12, 2011, GH¢14188987.06', the prosecutor told the court.

The Chief State Attorney noted that investigations had shown that Government does not owe him any money, with further investigations also revealing that the second accused person, Samuel Nerquaye- Tetteh , in charge of the case, drafted to the Ministry of Finance concerning the payment, as he failed to defend his actions before the court.

She said it was also found out that Woyome transferred GH¢400,000 into the account of the second accused person.