Woyome fights Attorney General over appeal

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong is on the heels of Alfred Agbesi Woyome. She wants him convicted for fraudulently obtaining GHȻ51.2 million.

Mr Woyome was acquitted and discharged at the Fast Track High Court on March 12, 2015.

That has not ended the matter because his “foe” is on his heels at the Court of Appeal and is seeking that the judgement freeing him be overturned.

Mr Woyome on Monday called for the resignation of Mrs Appiah-Opong on the ground that a company her former firm represented had gotten US$1million from the judgement debt.

But the Attorney-General in a sharp rebuttal, to Graphiconline's court correspondent Mabel Aku Baneseh, denied the claim and said “the $1 million he is referring to was money he borrowed from Mr Ray Smith in 2008.

“He was not paying back and Mr Smith pursued him to pay back.”

A statement of claim attached to the writ of summons issued on behalf of Mr Smith had prayed the High Court to order Woyome to pay back $982,929.53 he took from Mr Smith.

“I never personally fought against Woyome. It was my former partner Mr Tony Lithur who handled cases against him in the past. He is up to nothing but mischief but I wish to assure Ghanaians that I will use my good office to pursue justice. Justice is all I seek for Ghanaians and nothing will deter me,” Mrs Appiah-Opong pointed out.

Woyome's letter

A letter dated March 13, 2015 signed by Woyome and addressed to Mrs Appiah-Opong accused her of being biased and out to get at him at all cost.

“In as much as I am not against the decision of the State to appeal, I am particularly against your conduct and public utterances during the trial and after the judgement,” the letter which was also addressed to the Secretary to the President and the Chief of Staff noted.

The letter was dated Friday March 13, 2015, the day Woyome was served with the notice of appeal.

'This case has traveled approximately three and half years and you have all the opportunity to prove any case against my person; more so as you know that the default judgement was negotiated between myself and then Attorney-General together with officials of the Presidency with the knowledge of then Chief of Staff who was copied with every correspondence,” the letter said.

Austro-Invest

Accusing the Attorney-General's legal firm Lithur Brew and Co., Woyome stated that the firm's client, Austro-Invest benefited from the judgement debt and for that reason “I find it difficult to reconcile your decision to involve yourself directly in this criminal case and notice of appeal you have authorized be issued and served on me. It is a fact that you and your clients received approximately one million dollars equivalent equivalent from the said judgment debt you now so much criminalized and want me jailed for.”

Dishonest letter

Describing his letter as rambling, dishonest, unnecessary and a move to throw dust in the eyes of Ghanaians, Mrs Appiah-Opong denied his claims.

“If Woyome is confident that the appeal will fail why does he not save his breath for the Court of Appeal where three Law Lords will determine the merit of the appeal.

I have the full support of His Excellency, the President to pursue the appeal as expeditiously as possible and I intend to so.

I swore an oath to protect the public purse that is what I have done since I came into office and I will continue to do so,” Mrs Appiah-Opong stated.

She said, “furthermore, while in private practice I never handled the matters referred to in his letter. In any case, the money had nothing to do with the judgement debt paid him.

He is being dishonest with the public and he must be treated with the contempt he deserves.”

She warned Woyome to desist from playing with the mind of the public and prepare to justify why the judgement should not be overturned.

Message to the media

Turning to the media, the Attorney-General advised the media to desist from spreading the falsehood being peddled by Woyome.

“He is playing a mind game and I urge journalists to uphold the ethics of the profession. We cannot go on like this as a country where falsehood gains popularity before the truth.”

“How do we expect this nation to develop if we allow sources to mislead us? Let us be circumspect and cross check facts from all sources before going to press,” Mrs Appiah-Opong advised.

She made reference to her former partner's earlier response to those allegations in the media, the Attorney-General, corroborated and said a director of Austro-Invest Mr Ray Smith was indisposed and as a result of that he (Mr Smith) appointed Woyome as an alternate director in Mpowapak but Woyome took more than GHC200,000 from the company's account resulting in Mr Smith pursuing him to pay back.

She also corroborated Mr Tony Lithur's explanation that Austro-Invest sued Woyome for a $1 million loan Woyome took from him to run his (Woyome's) foundation after Woyome refused to pay back the said amount.

Mr Lithur had also told Daily Graphic that a disagreement between his client and Woyome, aroused when Mr Smith, who was then appointed Woyome as an alternate director in Mpowapak but “Woyome took more than GHC200,000 from the company's account resulting in my client pursuing him to pay back. He has since paid back all the moneys to my client.”

Counsel said Mr Smith made claims against Woyome after Austro-Invest had given Woyome the power of attorney to follow up on the GHC51.2 million and had been duly paid.

Austro-Invest had worked with a team including, Mpowapak, that negotiated for the 1.1 billion euro facility from Bank Austria and the letter from

“I filed the suit on behalf of Austro-Invest but I advised the company to withdraw the suit after hell broke loose on the said GHC51.2 million,” Mr Lithur added and advised the public to make statements from informed positions.

Mr Lithur did not indicate the action he would take if the vile campaign against his person, the firm and the Attorney-General did not stop but firmly warned “this vile campaign to tag my firm and I as Woyome's allies would not wash. It would be in the interest of those championing those lies to stop with immediate effect.”