Former BoG Deputy Governor Concludes Testimony In Woyome Criminal Trial
A former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Mr Lionel Vanlare Dosoo, Tuesday completed his testimony in the trial involving Alfred Agbesi Woyome, a businessman, who is alleged to have defrauded the state to the tune of GH¢51.2 million.
A sixth prosecution witness is expected to be brought by the state on March 15, 2013 to testify in the trial which began on February 6, 2012.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew-Oppong Appiah, led a four-member delegation to the court to prosecute the matter.
The fifth prosecution witness, Mr Dosoo, who first appeared before the court on February 28, 2013, had to recap his earlier evidence because the court’s recording equipment had broken down and could not capture what had transpired in court on February 28, 2013.
Proceedings had to end abruptly on February 28, 2013 because of the malfunctioning of recording equipment.
Led by a Chief State Attorney, Ms Cynthia Lamptey, to give his evidence-in-chief, Mr Dosoo informed the court that he had been the Chairman of the Financial Committee of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), as well as the Vice-Chairman of the Stadium Bidding Committee, for CAN 2008.
According to him, his committee looked into the two final bids put up by two companies and Vamed Engineering emerged first.
He said he did not know Woyome personally but got to know him when Woyome appeared before the Bidding Committee to clarify issues on documents he had presented on behalf of Vamed Engineering.
Answering questions during cross-examination by counsel for Woyome, Mr Osafo Buabeng, the witness said he knew Vamed had emerged tops in the bid but could not tell if it eventually won the final bid.
Mr Dosoo also informed the court that the committee checked the background of the bank which was expected to finance the project, adding that it was satisfied “there is a bank called Bank Austria”,
He said he was not aware the LOC recommended payment of money to Woyome for feasibility studies his company conducted on the stadium project.
Mr Dosoo also informed the court that he did not know Vamed’s financial package involved other projects.
The trial judge, Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, had to decongest the court to ensure only the media and relevant parties in the case were present.
Woyome has been charged with two counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretence for allegedly putting in false representation to claim GH¢51.2 million from the government through a default judgement.
He has, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and is currently on a GH¢20 million bail.
Four prosecution witnesses who have so far testified in the matter are a Deputy Head of the Legal Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP), Mrs Mangowa Ghanney; a former Minister of Finance, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo; a former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, and Ms Yvonne Quansah, who is stationed at the Financial Sector Division of MOFEP.
