Woyome loses case in African court
Embattled Ghanaian businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome has lost
his case against Ghana in the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The Court, presided over by Honourable Lady
Justice Tujlani Rose Chizumil, on Friday, 28 June 2019 ruled that: “The court
finds that the applicant’s rights to nondiscrimination, his right to equality
before the law and to equal protection of law as guaranteed under Articles 2
and 3 of the Charter were not violated by the respondent. The court notes that
since no violation has been established, the issue of reparation does not
arise. Consequently, the applicant’s prayers for reparation is dismissed.
Mr Woyome dragged the Republic of Ghana to the African Court
after a ruling by Ghana’s Supreme Court that he should refund some money to the
state since he got it through fraudulent means.
The businessman stated that his human rights
were being trampled by the Republic of Ghana in relation to a case in which he
sued the country for abrogating a financial engineering service contract and
was paid GHS51.2 million as judgment debt.
The African Court’s ruling was live-streamed.
The Arusha-based court on 24 November 2017 gave
an order that all steps by the Republic of Ghana to retrieve the GHS51 million
from Mr Woyome be halted until a final determination of the case by Ghana’s
Supreme Court.
This is the second legal blow dealt Mr Woyome in
24 hours. On Thursday, Ghana’s Supreme Court ordered the sale of some
properties discovered by the state to belong to the embattled businessman to
defray part of a GHS51.2 million judgement debt paid him about a decade ago,
which the country’s apex court has ruled he must refund, since, according to
the court, he got it illegally and fraudulently.
In Thursday’s ruling, the court said a claim by
the now-defunct UT Bank that Mr Woyome used two of his houses at Trassaco as
well as a quarry as collateral for a loan could not be proven.
They all have a total worth of GHS20 million,
according to Deputy Attorney General Yeboah Dame, who addressed the media after
the ruling.
Mr Dame said the state will initiate processes
to auction the properties.
Also, the sole Judge, Justice Alfred Anthony
Bening, awarded a cost of GHS60,000 each against Mr Woyome’s Anator Holdings
and Quarry Limited; and UT Bank.
Mr Woyome has already refunded a little over
GHS4 million of the GHS51.2 million.
Reacting to the judgment in an interview with
Accra-based Kasapa FM, Mr Woyome said: “I reject the claim by the single Judge
that I’ve colluded with UT Bank and that it is not true that I took a loan from
the defunct bank. I presented in court documents concerning the loan facility
and UT did same, so, this particular judgment, I find it very difficult to
understand. I’ll move the case to a three-panel Supreme Court … to rule on it.
UT Bank can also send the case there and show the court that, indeed, I owe
them.”
“This case has just started, so, one should not
begin jubilating that my properties will be sold. I’ll fight this case until
its logical conclusion. I could look for a loan to pay the remainder of the
judgment debt awarded me back to the state but as a law-abiding citizen, I’ve
been waiting to hear the ruling of the African Human Rights Court on my case
before acting.
“The ruling will be done tomorrow [Friday, 28
June]. If the African Court says I should pay the state, I’ll sit down with the
state and see the way forward, if the court rules in my favour, we’ll make sure
that the ruling is applied in Ghana,” Mr Woyome said.