General News of Saturday, 14 March 2015
Source: citifmonline.com
Lawyer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Victor Kojogah Adawudu has said the Attorney General and Minister of Justice should be allowed to take another shot at Alfred Woyome’s judgement debt case again.
Some legal minds have already shot down any hopes of victory in the AG’s quest to appeal the case.
However, according to Lawyer Adawudu, “the state believes that if the same Judge at the stage of submission of no case says there is a case to be answered and at the end of it all, looking at it, insists that there is no case, they believe that still there is that case so the entire case should be looked at the Court of Appeal.”
He said legal business is “uncertain” so in the Court of Appeal, they will put an argument which they believe in before the court.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah Oppong, has already filed an appeal against the ruling on the criminal case.
Alfred Woyome was standing trial on two counts of causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretense after he was paid Ghc51 million for a job he did for the government ahead of the 2008 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) which Ghana hosted.
But according to the prosecution, Woyome put in false claims by stating that he was entitled to the amount because the government had abrogated a contract for the construction of stadia for the AFCON, when according to the prosecution, there was no such contract.
Woyome was, however, acquitted and discharged by an Accra High Court on Thursday on both counts.
The Judge before delivering his judgement, chastised the state prosecutors for failing to call key witnesses to adequately prosecute the case
The AG, Marietta Brew-Appiah Oppong said: “We disagree completely with the judgement of the court. We are applying for a copy of the judgement, study it carefully and appeal accordingly.”
Many have questioned why the AG’s department is seeking to appeal the ruling when they could have effectively prosecuted the case to get the ruling they desired.
But the AG insists it will go ahead with the appeal.