Woyomegate: Betty-Mould, others have questions to answer – Ace Ankomah

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Category: Briefs & Memos

Created on Tuesday, 07 February 2012 18:44

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He said some key persons both in and outside government must answer as to what circumstances informed their belief that Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome had a case against the state.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Tuesday, Mr Ankomah said there was a fundamental misunderstanding of a critical point in the matter; Woyome did not sue the state over claims pending since 2006, what he sued the state for, was a failure to abide by an agreement he reached with the then Attorney-General Mrs Betty-Mould Iddrisu.

According to him, those who entered into an agreement with Mr Woyome – which he went to court to enforce when the Finance Ministry failed to pay him – must explain what informed their decision to enter into the agreement and the documents which formed the basis for that decision, when they discovered the Agyemang-Manu letter which was relied on rather belatedly to argue that the NDC financier did not deserve the payment.

“The reason why I believe that a lot of these officials ought to be invited is that people seem to have missed a critical point; that Woyome went to court to enforce an agreement with the then Attorney-General. He might have made claims, but his cause of action was that he had an agreement virtually with the government now to pay him GHS41 million and that the Minister of Finance or the Bank of Ghana had failed to make that payment,” he said.

“It is extremely critical,” Mr Ankomah emphasized, that “we allow CID (Criminal Investigations Department) to look at the complete evolution of this matter. Who entered into that agreement? When did they find Agyemang Manu’s letter and under what circumstances did it disappear and which circumstances was it discovered a couple of days after he had taken judgment”?

He said all those calling for the arrest of Mrs Betty-Mould and Deputy Attorney-General Ebo Barton Oduro have to hold their horses, insisting although “There are grounds for questioning these personalities, it is not in the arrest; the jubilation over the arrest is nothing because the arrest is nothing.”

He said if the police CID, after inviting the personalities involved are convinced that they have to be arrested and charged, then that can be done.

Mrs Betty-Mould Iddrisu Monday caused her lawyers, Dadzie and Associates to write to the police declaring her willingness to submit a voluntary statement on the subject.

Read below the entire letter from Mrs Mould Iddrisu’s lawyers.

The Director General

Criminal Investigations Department

Police Headquarters

Accra

Dear Sir,

IN RE ATTORNEY GENERAL V ALFRED AGBESI WOYOME (SUIT NO. OCC/42/10 REQUEST TO SUBMIT VOLUNTARY STATEMENT TO THE GHANA POLICE SERVICE

We act as solicitors for Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu a former Attorney General of the Republic of Ghana.

Our client’s attention has been drawn to recent developments in the above-mentioned suit currently pending at the High Court (Commercial Division) as well as the interim report of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the subsequent arrest of the defendant in the suit.

These matters are currently in the public domain. Our client has been referred to, vilified and pilloried in current media and public discussions.

We are instructed to refer to these matters above and to react to them as follows:

1. At all material times our client acted properly both administratively and professionally.

2. That our client at all material times exercised that due diligence required of a public office holder and more especially in the esteemed position of Attorney General.

3. That the action to challenge the capacity of the defendant in this case to his claim was initiated by our client as the then Attorney General after further information had been made available to her office.

4. The action referred to above as to whether Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome is entitled to his claim is currently pending before the High Court (Commercial Division) as suit no. OCC/42/10.

5. In the circumstances, our client is of the view that the issue as to whether Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome is entitled to his claim or not is sub judice.

6. Payment made during the tenure of our client as Attorney General to Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in this matter were pursuant to the orders of the High Court.

7. That the subsequent critical payments in issue herein were not authorised by our client and in any case the payments were made after she exited the office of Attorney General.

Without prejudice to the above, our client is however ready and willing to submit a voluntary statement to the police and assist them in their investigations.

Kindly indicate a convenient time and date for our client to call in to submit her voluntary statement to your office.

Signed: Solicitors for Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu

Dadzie and Associates