AG fumbles in court over Woyome case

• Posted on July 22, 2014July 22, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Cross-examination of businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome by the state in the ongoing trial yesterday suffered several interjections as the trial judge and lawyers of the accused jumped in on several occasions.

Principal State Attorney, Matthew Amponsah, who conducted the cross-examination, argued and went back and forth with the accused over questions he believes the accused has not answered well.

The trial judge, Justice John Ajet-Nasam, on several occasions had to ask the accused person not to respond to the questions posed by the state attorney and further directed the attorney to move on to the next question.

One of the situations that the judge had to interfere in was when Mr Amponsah sought to put to the accused that an introductory letter that was written by Mr Kwaku Agyemang Manu, former Deputy Finance Minister, introducing him (Woyome) and Vamed Engineering to some four international institution did not mean he (the accused) was an entity as he (Woyome) had told the court. Also, that the financial engineering Woyome claimed he did for the government was illegal.

Woyome in response told the court that the purpose of the letter was to assure the institutions that  he and Vamed were different entities and that the Attorney General did not say that it was illegal for him to do such a business for the government, neither did the court that sat on the case that won him the GH?51.2 million judgment debt.

But Mr Amponsah insisted that he was not an entity. Woyome on the other hand said that was the import of the letter by reference. After several minutes of back and forth over the issue, the judge said Mr Amponsah should leave the situation to the court to decide what the definition of an entity was and the interpretation the court could give to it.

The situation got out of hand when Mr Amponsah sought to ask Woyome if he paid tax on the GH?51.2 million judgement debt he took from the state. Woyome in response said he was advised by his lawyers that there was no need for him to pay tax on the money.

But Mr Amponsah, who said checks of the AG indicated that he did not pay tax, had several banters with the accused, his lawyers and even the judge over the issue.

Justice Ajet-Nasam, who was running out of patience at this time, said it was not for the accused to do that and that if there was any tax to be paid on the money, the state ought to have made the deductions at source before paying the accused, which was the right thing to do, and asked Woyome not to answer any further question on tax.

But the state attorney insisted that that would not deter him from asking his question. He then posed another question regarding the same tax issue, but the accused did not answer.  The court was silent for minutes, after which the judge asked Mr Amponsah if his gas was finished.

Mr Amponsah then asked for an adjourned date for continuation. The case was adjourned to July 24.

Earlier, the prosecution put it to the accused that from all indication Woyome was engaged in an illegal business since he did not have a legal company that carried out the said work he did for the government and that he did not do any financial engineering to get the GH?51.2 million he claimed from the Government of Ghana.

Woyome in response said that was not true and that a competent judge sat on the case and entered judgement in his favour. Additionally, he told the court that the AG held a pre-trial with him and his lawyers and voluntarily paid the money into his account, adding that the money was legal and ordered by a court.

The Principal State Attorney said Woyome acquired the judgement through fraudulent means and that a witness in the case testified to that, but Woyome told the court that none of the witnesses who had appeared before that court justified that claim.

There was also the issue of the legitimacy of M-pawapak as a business entity in Ghana, of which Woyome was an alternate director. According to prosecution, their checks indicated that the company was not duly registered in Ghana; however, Woyome indicated that the prosecution erred in the name they sent to the Registrar General’s Department and that the company was legally registered in Ghana.

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