HOW WOYOME PAID CASTLE, NDC & GBC

*GH¢37.5 million involved 

Indeed Woyome never dies. That is the latest catch phrase in town.

For many Ghanaians who believe that there are many loose-ends in the unending Woyome saga, latest findings by Today suggest that the beleaguered Alfred Agbesi Woyome paid Castle, NDC and GBC a combined whopping amount of GH¢37.5 million for various reasons, after he had gained full access to the GH¢51million judgement debt.

The amount was paid from the UNIBANK account of Alfred Woyome which according to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) was the same account that Mr. Woyome transferred some GH¢400,000 to Senior State Attorney, Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, through his wife’s account.

The break-down of the amount shows that Woyome paid Castle GH¢2.5 million; GBC, GH¢5 million and the NDC, GH¢30 million. The amount, Today discovered, was paid from the very account that Mr. Woyome paid Senior State Attorney, Mr. Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh.

The paper’s findings were corroborated by Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, the NPP Member of Parliament for Assin North, in the Central Region.

The latest discovery has thus thrown the competence and the genuineness of EOCO into the investigations of the Woyome debt payment in doubt.

The logical question on the lips of many Ghanaians is that: If EOCO could easily identify the origin of the GH¢400,000, how come the office was silent on how the GH¢37.5 million was transferred to the three institutions?

“It cannot be oversight,” Hon. Agyapong argued, stressing “that it was clearly a cover up; knowing that if they disclose these findings, the President would have questions to answer.” The Assin North MP, who initially was against the decision by former Sports Minister and other former NPP functionaries not to respond to the EOCO invitation, said “now I support Osafo Maafo and others. Clearly EOCO cannot be trusted to do an impartial job.”

He said if President Mills fails to investigate how the monies were transferred to three institutions then there is no basis to continue with the prosecution of the Chief State Attorney and his wife, adding “we politicians always do the wrong things only for the civil servants to pay the high prize.”

Hon. Agyapong reiterated his call for the prosecution of former Attorney-General, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, who authorised and consented to the judgement debt payment, when indeed there was overwhelming evidence that Mr. Woyome had made fraudulent misrepresentation to government in order for him to access the gargantuan GH¢51 million amount.

The EOCO has again come under sharp criticism on aspects of its findings that suggested that the president on two occasions ordered for the non-payment of the amount to Mr. Woyome. A top lawyer whom the paper spoke to on the issues asked: “At what point did the President ask that government should not pay the amount?”

According to the lawyer, under the law, the President has no power to overturn the court decision to accept the consent-judgement, in this case between the government or the state and the individual- Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

“The best option under the circumstance would be for the president representing government or the state to appeal against the decision of the court to accept the consent-judgement ruling. Any unilateral decision by the president to set aside the ruling of the court is ultra-vires. This is because the president’s powers in the circumstance is limited by the decision of the court,” the lawyer noted, and stressed that “I [the lawyer] believe the EOCO only put in that bit to exonerate the president from any possible complicity.”

According to the corroborative findings, the GH¢5 million was paid to GBC as advertisement fees for the live coverage of the NDC presidential congress in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region. Again it is believed part of the money was used to fund President Mills’ re-election as the NDC’s presidential candidate.

A leading member of the Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman (FONKA), Ernest Owusu Bempah, told the media recently that part of the amount was used to feed and bribe some NDC delegates who attended the Sunyani congress to vote for President Mills.

It is even rumoured in NDC circles that it was the said amount which Herbert Mensah alluded to when he said the government has set aside some GH¢90 million to see through the re-election of President Mills as the presidential candidate of the NDC for this year’s election. It was that congress that re-elected President Mills as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2012 election.

In the case of the GH¢30 million, Today established that the money was paid to the NDC.

Although no particular reason was assigned for the GH¢30 million transfer from Woyome’s UNIBANK account, Hon. Ken Agyapong is of the conviction that the amount was paid to contractors who are building NDC headquarters in Accra.

That was after the Sudanese government had reneged on the promise to provide funds for the building.

Till today, NDC officials have refused to disclose how the said facility is being funded with Asiedu Nketia, the NDC General Secretary, casting aspersions and innuendos on people calling for the disclosure of the source of the funding of the NDC headquarters building.

But Yaw Boateng Gyan, the National Organiser of the NDC, said, he was unaware of the allegations by Hon. Ken Agyapong and believed the Assin North MP should rather collaborate with the investigative bodies to unravel every aspect of the murky transfer deals.

It is not known what the GH¢2.5 million that was transferred to the Castle account was used for, giving rise to speculations, although unsubstantiated, that perhaps some top guns at the seat of government may be the beneficiaries.

However Today discovered from further probing that the Chief of Staff, Mr. Martey Newman. was in London for medical check-up when the consent-judgement debt money was paid to Mr. Woyome.

His deputy, Alex Segbefia, was in office. Segbefia’s stoical defence of Mr. Woyome on Joy FM at the initial stages of the scandal has thus given rise to suspicion that the deputy Chief of Staff might have been a beneficiary of the largesse.

Segbefia is a long standing friend of Agbesi Woyome and apart from their social hang-out, the duo are often seen together at NDC gatherings.