Embattled businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome has served notice he’ll appeal the judgment by a sole Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Alfred Benin, which has ordered that several properties identified as belonging to him must be sold to offset some 51 Million Ghana Cedis judgment debt paid illegally to him by the State.
He is confident that the single Judge erred in his ruling on the matter.
The Supreme court on Thursday ruled that properties including two executive buildings located at Trassaco in Accra, the office complex of Anator Holdings, a company owned by Mr. Woyome, two residential buildings at Caprice and Abelemkpe, both suburbs in Accra, as well as a mining quarry owned by the judgment debtor in the Eastern Region of Ghana be auctioned.
The state identified the properties owned by Mr. Woyome which are estimated at GHc 20 million that it believes could prove vital in retrieving the GH¢ 51.2 million judgment debt he received from the state unlawfully.
The now-defunct UT Bank has claimed some of the properties identified by the state as theirs. It was the claim of lawyers of the defunct UT Bank that Woyome, used the said properties as collateral for loans at the bank which he failed to pay back. Ownership of the properties according to UT Bank, based on the failure to pay back the loans, transferred to the bank automatically.
The state represented by the Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, argued that there is no evidence to show that the said properties were used as collateral by Woyome to secure loans from UT Bank. The properties, the state maintained, are owned by Mr. Woyome and therefore prayed the court to declare same as true to pave way for the state to sell them.
In his judgment, Justice Benin said he has concluded that the claim by UT Bank that Mr. Woyome used the two buildings at Trasacco as collateral for a loan is false as they did not provide any credible evidence to substantiate their claim.
But Mr. Woyome in an interview with Nana Ama Annor of Kasapa News vehemently rejected the rule stressing that he’ll present the case before three panel Supreme Court judges.
“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 U.T did same so this particular judgment I find it very difficult to understand. I’ll move the case to a three panel Supreme Court justices 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 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. 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 added.”
