Martin A.B.K. Amidu
Special Prosecutor Martin A.B.K. Amidu and Deputy Attorney General
Godfred Yeboah were yesterday caught in crossfire over efforts to enforce a
Supreme Court order that says it should retrieve 47 million Euros fraudulently
paid to Waterville Holdings (BVI) Limited — a
company belonging to businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome and others.
While Mr. Amidu blames the Office of the Attorney
General for ‘dragging’ its feet in retrieving the 47 million Euros, the Deputy
Attorney General (AG) in turn accused the Special Prosecutor over his refusal
to supply the AG with confidential documents that would help them trace the
company to retrieve the judgment debt.
Mr. Amidu has consistently stated that he has
information that could help the AG trace the company to retrieve the money but said
it would be suicidal to hand over the information to the AG.
Main
Suit
He filed a suit at the Supreme Court in
September asking the court to ‘compel the AG to enforce an order and retrieve
the money wrongfully paid to the company’.
According to the suit, unless the court
‘compels’ the AG to enforce the order and also Woyme’s company is ordered to
comply and pay the full amount of debt, the labour and expenses exerted by him
as the plaintiff on behalf of Ghanaians would go in vain.
47m
Debt
The Supreme Court on June 14, 2013 ordered
Waterville Holdings (BVI) Ltd to refund all monies paid to it by the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) government as judgment debt over the termination of
an ‘illegally’ awarded contract for rehabilitation works on the Accra Sports
Stadium for the AFCON 2008 hosted by Ghana.
The Office of the AG under the John Mahama
administration was, however, reluctant to retrieve the debt and subsequently
delayed the processes of seeking direction from the court regarding the
enforcement of the orders.
International
Court
Woyome then instituted an action at the
International Court of Arbitration against the Government of Ghana, challenging
the decision of the Supreme Court for his company to refund the money.
Mr. Amidu then went to the Supreme Court in
September seeking an order for the AG to enforce the original order for Woyome
to refund the full amount of €47,365,624.00 (excluding interest thereon).
According to him, it has been more than a year
since the Arbitration Tribunal brought the arbitration proceedings to an end
and although the ruling is in favour of Ghana, the Supreme Court’s orders are
yet to be enforced.
Hot
Exchanges
Appearing before the court yesterday, he told
the court that he commenced the action to ensure that the orders of the court
were enforced.
He claimed to have information on Waterville
Holdings, saying he had confronted the government about how to retrieve the
money but nothing seems to have happened.
He said it had been several years since the
judgment was entered in favour of the state and that he was before the court to
assist it to ensure that the judgment is enforced so that the people of Ghana
will have the benefit of the judgment.
Dame
Argument
Mr. Dame opposed the application saying it was ‘laden’
with procedural improprieties and urged the court to dismiss it.
He said although Mr. Amidu claims to have
approached the government, at no point did he write to the AG who is charged
with the responsibility to retrieve the money.
According to him, the AG was having difficulty in
locating and identifying the assets of Waterville Holdings in Europe, if any.
He told the court that Mr. Amidu, who seems to
have information about the company, was unwilling to churn out the information,
“even this morning I asked him for the information but he said he would not
give it to me.”
Judges
The panel of judges raised concerns about the
nature of applications filed by Mr. Amidu, as they were not clear as to what he
was seeking.
Justice Sule Gbadegbe noted that once an order
is made by a court, the order becomes binding and there is no need for a
further order to enforce the previous one.
Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie also stated that the
order of the court was that the money was illegally paid to Waterville hence it
had to refund the money which meant that the AG was directed to retrieve the
money and as a result there is no need for another order.
Important
Question
He asked Mr. Amidu why he would
not cooperate with the AG with the information at his disposal so that together
they can trace the company and ensure the money was retrieved.
Mr. Amidu initially said it would be “suicidal
to do so” but later prayed for some time to consult the AG so they could see
how they would use the information he has to trace the company.
The court presided over by Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie and assisted by Justices Sule Gbadegbe, Alfred Benin, Samuel Marful-Sau and Agnes Dordzie gave Mr. Amidu and the AG three weeks to do so.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak& Juliana Tamatey
