The Supreme Court has set January 21, 2019 for its judgement on a suit filed by defunct UT Bank claiming ownership of some properties out of many others identified by the State as belonging to the embattled businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome.
The State identified five substantial properties supposedly owned by Mr Woyome estimated at $1.5million each that could prove vital in retrieving the GH¢51.2 million judgement debt he received from the state.
However, non-existing UT Bank claimed that some of the properties identified by the State are theirs.
The properties in dispute include two executive buildings located at Trassaco, a suburb in Accra and a mining quarry in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
It is 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.
The State intends to sell the properties to offset the over GH¢51million wrongfully paid to the Woyome.
The State represented by a 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 says are owned by the embattled businessman, and is, therefore, praying the Court to declare same as true to give the State the go-ahead to sell them.
The Court presided over by Justice A Benin, instructed the parties in the case to file their written addresses within two weeks.
The Court will reconstitute on the 21st of January 2019, to deliver its judgement.
Background
Mr Woyome was paid GH¢51million after claiming he helped Ghana raise funds to construct stadia for the hosting of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
However, an Auditor General’s report released in 2010, held that the amount was paid illegally to him.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr Woyome to pay back the money, after a former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, single-handedly challenged the legality of the payments.
Following delays in retrieving the money, Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney-General clearance to execute the court’s judgement, ordering Mr Woyome to refund the cash to the State.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
