Woyome Had Relationship With Waterville - Woyome Comm Team

Andrea Orlandi - MD, Waterville

The Communications Team of Alfred Agbesi Woyome says Woyome had a relationship with Waterville Holdings (BVI) Ltd, a company which was awarded a contract in 2006 to renovate and construct stadia for the CAN 2008 tournament.

A statement issued by the team in Accra said, “The relationship between Woyome and Waterville is a matter which is part of proceedings that are before the courts.”

On Monday, March 12, 2012, the Managing Director of Waterville, Mr Andrea Orlandi, said at a news conference in Accra that his company’s case with the government and the tussle between Woyome and the government over the claims were separate and distinct.

The communications team said in early 2005, Waterville was recommended and referred to Woyome by BIC (Building Industry Consultants), supervisory consultants to the CAN 2008 stadia and related projects.

It said the fact was that Waterville did not employ Woyome; his relationship with the company was in the form of a syndicate.

Under the syndication arrangement, Woyome, separately and independent of M-Powapak, and Vamed/Waterville agreed to collectively work on the project in question.

According to the statement, in the first instance, in order for VAMED/Waterville to win the bid for the construction and refurbishment of CAN 2008 stadia and allied projects, the key condition set by the Government of Ghana was that the successful party (or company) must exhibit evidence of secure funding.

Consequently, Vamed/Waterville contracted Woyome to make all relevant arrangements to syndicate the quantum of amount required which, in that case, was about €1.16 billion.

“The evidence of this secured funding procured by Mr Woyome for purposes of the Vamed/Waterville tender eventually won them the bid. Thus, this pre-condition was met by the singular work done by Woyome,” it said.

The statement said before Woyome could be paid his fees for his financial engineering, the Government of Ghana unilaterally terminated the process.

“It is for the above work that Woyome sued for professional fees and costs and secured his judgement,” it stressed.

It further explained that the government, after the termination of the original bid, re-awarded the rehabilitation of the Accra, Kumasi and El-Wak Stadia to Waterville, adding that by that time Vamed had left the scene without executing a contract for the construction of six hospitals for which it had signed contracts with the government.

“Waterville contracted Woyome to source for funding for these projects, which he did by securing it from the HSBC Bank in New York. Woyome duly procured the funding for Waterville and was paid for this particular service,” it said.

“The relationship between Woyome and Waterville is a matter which is part of proceedings that are before the courts,” it said.

Giving a brief supplementary background, the team said when the initial process under which Waterville was granted concurrent approval by the Central Tender Review Board (CTRB) was approved, the approval obligated the government to consummate all attendant contracts relating to this process under Section 65(4) of the Procurement Act of the Republic of Ghana,

But while that was truncated by the government, Waterville was re-awarded the Accra, Kumasi and El-Wak stadia projects, leaving Woyome’s professional work in obtaining the secure funding unrecognised and not catered for.

“It was on the basis of Woyome’s procuring the secure funding (with all its conditionalities) that Waterville was given the indicated concurrent approval. Obviously, securing the funding facility placed an obligation on the government to pay the attendant fees and costs incurred in securing the funding.

“Waterville, in 2010, affirmed Woyome’s rights to claim in a letter to the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, which letter was also copied to Woyome,” it averred.

“It is these professional fees and costs that Woyome claimed from the government. The judgement debt awarded was the outcome of negotiations between the government and Woyome,” the team said.