The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has released a list of some key members of
the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) who allegedly
benefited from the GH¢51.2 million judgment debt wrongfully paid to
Alfred Woyome.
NPP Communications Director, Nana Akomea at a
press conference in Accra Monday, said it was never the case that the
NDC financier solely benefited from the judgment debt paid him in 2010.
He
said Mr Woyome wrote down the names of all the beneficiaries of the
money and noted the purposes for which they were going to be paid the
money.
“Mr Woyome was very meticulous in keeping the records,” he added.
These
beneficiaries, Nana Akomea claims are people who defended Mr Woyome
even after the Supreme Court ruled that the money was wrongfully paid to
the businessman and should be returned to the state.
“Clearly, the money that Woyome received, he made a huge payment out of it to NDC,” he said.
THE LONG LIST OF NDC BENEFICIARIES OF WOYOME’S LOOT
STATEMENT BY THE NPP•
On 8th February 2011, the NDC Greater Accra Regional Chairman, in a
receipt penned in his own handwriting, Mr Ade Coker was given GH¢30,000
by Woyome. The handwritten receipt reads: “Received from Consul Afred
Woyome an amount of GH¢30,000.00” Signed Ade Coker 8/2/11
•
Aseidu Nketia, the General Secretary of the ruling NDC is also listed as
a beneficiary of the Woyome cash. For example, on 2nd September 2011,
he personally received GH¢20,000 from Mr Woyome. It was a cash cheque
with serial number 727292.
• Koku Anyidoho received from Woyome personally a cash cheque of GH¢13,000, with cheque no. 809093
• GH¢60,000 from Woyome to Steve Kpordzie, who was at the time the Managing Director of ADB
• The Speaker of Parliament, Doe Adzaho is also listed as receiving GH¢10,000 from Woyome, from cheque no. 727745.
• GH¢42,800 payment for “30 Motorbikes NDC” on 11th October 2011 paid directly to Royal Motors with cheque no. 847428.
Good
afternoon, Ghana. We have invited you again today on another matter
that is of grave concern to the people of Ghana. A matter that partly
explains why the NDC government has been able to burn GH¢248 billion
cash but have very little to show for it. It is just one of those
matters that give the strongest evidence that John Dramani Mahama can
never have be trusted to fight corruption. Rather, he will continue to
take proactive measures to protect those who are corrupt and have stolen
cash from state coffers.
We are here today to show you
documentary evidence why President John Mahama and his Attorney General
were, first, not interested in securing a conviction over the Alfred
Woyome create, loot and share matter and, secondly, why they have shown
no serious interest to respect the Supreme Court order to retrieve the
millions of dollars of Ghana’s money unlawfully given to Mr Alfred
Agbeso Woyome.
What we will do here is to share with you a list
of Woyome’s unlawful judgment debt booty. The list will blow your mind.
But it will also explain to you why we are nowhere in getting him to
vomit the taxpayers’ money he took when he was not entitled to it.
Fellow
Ghanaians, between the year 2009-2010 the NDC Government paid an amount
of GH¢ 51.2 million (valued at the time around $35 million) as judgment
debt to Mr. Alfred Woyome, following his story claiming to have had a
contract with the Kufuor government to help build stadia for the CAN
2008 football tournament, which according to him, was wrongfully
terminated.
SEQUENCE OF THE WOYOME EVENTS1.
Woyome, an acclaimed major financier of the NDC, made a claim to the
new NDC government on February 18 2010, claiming payments for work he
claimed he did for the previous government in 2007-2008.
2.
Without consulting the relevant members of the former government and
only claiming advice from lawyers at the AG’s office and at the Ministry
of Finance, Sports Ministry officials, the Attorney General, Betty
Mould wrote to her colleague Minister for Finance on 17th March 2010 and
31st March 2010 to request payments to be made to Mr. Woyome.
3.
The Minister for Finance on 6th April 2010, just one week after,
instructed the Controller and Accountant General (CAGD) to process the
payments.
4. The CAGD promptly on 7th April 2010 issued instructions to the Bank of Ghana.
5. The Minister of Finance on 12th April 2010 wrote to ask the Attorney General for further documentation on Woyome’s claim.
6.
Due to the slight delay in the release of payment, Mr. Woyome filed his
claim against government in court on 19th April 2010. The Attorney
General put up no defense whatsoever in court, Mr. Woyome hence had the
liberty to amend his claim twice, and shortly obtained an uncontested,
default judgment on 24th May 2010 (one month, five days) for the amount
in excess of GH¢105.5million.
7. The A-G now promptly entered
into negotiations with Mr. Woyome and both settled on the payment of
GH¢51.2m, to be paid in three installments of about GH1¢7million each.
They duly filed this in court as “consent judgment” on 4th June 2010.
8.
Strangely, just five (5) days later, on 9th June 2010, the A.G
apparently had a change of mind, and went back to court, this time
claiming Mr. Woyome did not deserve any payments, that the agreement was
a mistake, and prayed the court to set aside the consent judgement
filed 5 days earlier.
9. The High Court eventually on 5th
September ruled that as per the terms of the consent judgement filed by
both Mr. Woyome and the A.G, the government was to pay only “the due
amount of GH¢17million”, while court went into the merits of the A-G’s
writ.
10. Most strangely, under circumstances not well explained
up to date, the A.G proceeded to “a pre-trial settlement conference”
with Mr. Woyome on 7th December, 2010, at which they agreed that
government will pay ALL the GH¢51.2m to Mr. Woyome.
11. The
government through the Ministry of Finance, accordingly proceeded to pay
to Mr. Woyome GH¢10m on 27th January 2011, another GH¢10m on 8th April
2011, and GH¢14.1m on 12th September 2011. This in addition to the
earlier payment of GH¢17m on 6th October 2010 brought the total to
GH¢51.2m.
12. After the final payment in September 2011, all was
forgotten until the Auditor General reported the payments to Parliament
late 2011. The resulting public uproar, anger and shock forced the
government in early 2012 to arrest Mr. Woyome, resuming the abandoned
court case against him.
The Criminal trial was completely
botched. The presiding judge showed his frustration in his judgment by
saying the Attorney General deliberately presented a poor case. In
effect, the entire trial was a public show but with no sincere intention
to get justice done. Even, a senior lawyer at the A-G’s Department, who
received payments from Woyome, through his wife’s account, was not
prosecuted, because prosecuting him would have led the trail to bigger
fishes.
The Attorney-General who followed Betty Mould and was
serious about retrieving the money and prosecuting those who stole
public funds was sacked. He went on his own to the Supreme Court to get
Woyome and others to pay back. He secured judgment but the government
has not been interested to secure the monies involved.
Earlier
this month, he won a landmark ruling at the Supreme Court to examine
Woyome for failing to pay back the debt. The A-G fought against it and
steps have been taken through the legal process to ensure that does not
happen.
Mr Martin Amidu has said all the time that the President
is more interested in protecting Woyome than protecting the public
purse. He was ready to prove this if he was allowed to question Woyome
in the witness box. But, that did not happen.
Fortunately for the
taxpayers, we have been able to get our hands on evidence. Evidence
from Woyome’s own office. Evidence from Woyome’s own accounting
archives. Evidence bearing Woyome’s own handwritings, telling us
incontrovertibly, a list of at least some of the key people who were
paid by him.
You may all recall that Mr Woyome, at the beginning
of is arrest, warned publicly, I believe on Citi FM, that if the NDC
government dared to prosecute him he would mention names.
He knew
what he was saying. He had been meticulous in keeping proper records of
those he gave money to. With some, which we have here, he made them
write in their own words, the amount received, when it was received, and
got them to sign the receipt. Even where he gave just a cash cheque, he
made sure that he kept a record of it in separate book. Beyond that he
would write the name of beneficiary and, where necessary, the purpose of
the cash on the cheque counterfoil or stub. The cheque stub is the
small piece of paper left in your chequebook when you tear out a cheque.
Ladies
and gentlemen, we have here with us, the original stubs, and in
Woyome’s own handwriting. We will make them available to you for closer
inspection. You will be allowed to scrutinize them and do your own
cheques on them.
The list is a bombshell one, that shows beyond
all doubt that the bogus judgment debts, running into some $300 million
in the first two years of the NDC’s last eight years, were made for
privileged persons in the NDC to loot and share.
We have with us,
a bank statement from Mr Woyome’s account at the Agriculture
Development Bank, ADB House Branch. It is a statement showing payments
from 1st October 2010 to 15th April 2011, totaling GH$3,053,133.65.
On
8th February 2011, the NDC Greater Accra Regional Chairman, in a
receipt penned in his own handwriting, Mr Ade Coker was given GH¢30,000
by Woyome. The handwritten receipt reeds: “Received from Consul Afred
Woyome an amount of GH¢30,000.00” Signed Ade Coker 8/2/11
Aseidi
Nketia, the General Secretary of the ruling NDC is also listed as
abeneficiary of the Woyome cash. For example, on 2nd September 2011, he
personally received GH¢20,000 from Mr Woyome. It was a cash cheque with
serial number 727292.
Before that on 15th February 2011, a One
Million Ghana Cedis cheque was paid into the Unibank Ghana Ltd account
of the NDC. We have a copy of the exact ADB cheque, which carries the
cheque no. 230051. Woyome’s bank statement shows that cheque was cleared
the very next day.
1st May 2011, Koku Anyidohu received from
Woyome personally a cash cheque of GH¢13,000, with cheque no. 809093. A
few days after, on 10th May 2011, Woyome again gave Koku Anyidoho an
amount of GH¢100,000 and the purpose is stated as “Koku Trip With
President.”
There is also payment of GH¢60,000 from Woyome to
Steve Kpordzie, who was at the time the Managing Director of ADB. This
raises serious questions over propriety. What did the Bank Manager do to
deserve a cash payment of that colossal amount?
In fact, the Speaker of Parliament, Doe Adzaho is also listed as receiving GH¢10,000 from Woyome, from cheque no. 727745.
There
is also a GH¢42,800 payment for “30 Motorbikes NDC” on 11th October
2011 paid directly to Royal Motors with cheque no. 847428.
There
are many others on the list. But, we believe we have given enough to
show that there is every probability that much of the GH¢51 million
given to Woyome was channeled through him for the party and some of its
leaders.
Ghana’s public purse can never be safe under President
Mahama ad his NDC. Thankfully, after 8 years of creating, looting and
sharing, in a week’s time, the people of Ghana will be presented with an
opportunity to end the bleeding of Ghana. Let us stop it now before
Ghana dies. Corruption Kills! NDC is Killing Ghana!
Let us vote for Change to Fix Ghana Again!
Thank you.
