Alfred Agbesi Woyome
Mr. Osafo Boabeng, counsel for Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier who has been hauled to court for receiving an alleged fraudulent judgement debt of GH?51.28 million from the state, has stated that the trial of his client cannot go on without a substantive Attorney-General (A-G).
He raised this objection yesterday before an Accra Fast Track High Court Financial Division where the trial of Woyome was expected to resume.
Counsel for the accused person told the court presided over by Justice John Najet-Assam that under Article 88 of the constitution, the trial could not go on without a substantive A-G.
It would be recalled that the former Minister of Justice and A-G Hon. Ben Kumbour has been made the Majority Leader in Parliament and the President is yet to appoint someone to replace him.
The trial judge told Mr. Boabeng to file the issue for the court to hear him.
Earlier, a principal state attorney Mr. Mathew Ampnsah told the court that they could not get their witness to come to court and prayed for an adjournment.
The case has consequently been adjourned to January 28, 2012.
The former Head of Aid and Debt Management at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP), Yvonne Quansah, last month testified at the trial and said that no money came from the Bank of Austria which funds Woyome was allegedly seeking for the construction and rehabilitation of the stadia for the Africa Cup (CAN) 2008.
The witness told the court that she and some other officials at the Ministry of Finance were assigned to manage the debt of Ghana.
She said she got to know the accused person in 2005 through a project facility, adding that she was part of a committee tasked to analyse financial projects for the construction and rehabilitation of stadia for CAN 2008.
The witness said at the end of their sitting, they prepared a report for the ministry and noted that they analysed two companies in the report and chose Vamed Engineering.
Furthermore, she stated that the Bank of Austria was to be the financier of Vamed, which was represented by Woyome.
According to her, the two companies, which she analysed along with her team, were Vamed and Epipherm, and they presented proposals to the Ministry of Finance through the Ministry of Sports and Education.
Osafo Buaben, counsel for Woyome, asked whether the committee the witness talked about was the same as the Dosoo Committee, to which she responded in the affirmative.
When asked whether or not she appended her signature to the report, the witness said she did not, because she was out of the country by then.
Mr. Boabeng asked if the Ministry of Finance received a letter of support from the Bank of Austria to which the witness said ?yes?, and tendered a copy of the letter of support to the court in evidence.
Yvonne admitted that Bank of Austria gave certain conditions to be fulfilled by the Government by September 30, 2005, but said she did not know if those conditions were fulfilled.
When Mr. Boabeng asked whether or not she knew that the bidding process was terminated, and the witness said she later heard about the termination of the contract.
She further added that all she knew and could answer questions on was the committee she worked with.
The case has been adjourned to January 15 2013.
Woyome has pleaded not guilty to causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretences.
By Fidelia Achama
This entry was published in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.Source: http://www.dailyguideghana.com/?p=73480
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