Woyome drags AG to African Court of Justice over human rights

Businessman Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome has dragged the Attorney General to the African Court of Justice in Arusha, Tanzania, in the matter of the Gh¢51.2million, he owes the state.

According to him, he was of the view that the Supreme Court of Ghana violated his human rights when it ruled that he should refund the Gh¢51.2million which he obtained through court processes to the state.

In April this year, Mr Woyome initiated a similar action at the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), arguing that the judgment debt paid to him by the past National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, which the Supreme Court ruled that he got wrongfully and should be refunded, was a breach of his human rights.

Related: Woyome takes case of GH¢51.2 million refund to ICC

He asserts in his statement of claim at the African Court of Justice that his human rights to equality before the law, fair trial and an impartial tribunal have been violated by the Supreme Court of Ghana.

According to Mr Woyome, the Supreme Court, being the highest court of the land and the court of last resort, he has no other avenue in Ghana to ventilate his grievances; accordingly he has exhausted all local remedies and wants an intervention from the African Court.

Refund

Per an arrangement between Mr Woyome and the Attorney General, he started refunding the money by installments in November last year.

According to the arrangement, he was supposed to have made a second part payment of GH¢5million by April 1, 2017, but checks indicated that the second payment has not been made as of now.

Mr Woyome is to pay Gh¢5million every four months in installment until the final payment is made on April 1, 2019, per the arrangement with the AG last year.

However, Mr Woyome who is dissatisfied with the ruling by the Supreme Court has resorted to the two international bodies, ICC and African Court of Justice to determine the matter.

The AG has been served with the African Court of Justice suit through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

AG drags Woyome to Supreme Court for oral examination

Meanwhile, the Attorney General has also filed a fresh motion asking the Supreme Court to order Mr Woyome to appear before it on June 28, 2017 to be orally examined regarding his indebtedness of Gh¢51.2million to the state, reports the Ghanaian Times newspaper of Monday June 19, 2017.

An Ex-parte motion filed on Friday June 2, 2017 is among others, seeking to know from My Woyome whether there was any property for satisfying the judgment of dated July 29, 2014, the Ghanaian Times reported.

It would be recalled that Mrs Dorothy Afriyie-Ansah, Chief State Attorney filed a similar suit in 2016 but later filed a discontinuance based on the payment schedule the AG’s Department and Mr Woyome agreed upon out of which a part payment of Gh¢4 million was made.

Mr Justice Anin Yeboah, a single judge hearing the case granted the request of the AG.

Not satisfied with the AG’s discontinuance of her oral examination of the judgment debt, citizen vigilante, Mr Martin Amidu also filed a writ in 2016 to orally examine Mr Woyome as part of processes to retrieve the money.

Mr Amidu however withdrew his case when there was a change of government on January 7, 2017, explaining that he was confident the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government was going to pursue the matter.