The much anticipated oral examination of businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome by Martin Amidu on the controversial GHC 51.2 million wrongfully paid him by the State has been put on hold by the Supreme Court.

The suspension was prompted by the filing of a motion that is seeking to stay the said examination by the former Attorney General, Mr Amidu, which was scheduled for Thursday, November 24 at the Supreme Court.

At the court’s sitting Thursday, Justice Anin Yeboah drew the attention of Mr Amidu and the representative of the Attorney General to the filing of the motion on Wednesday, November 23 at 1:30pm.

The motion that was also fixed for Thursday could, however, not be moved for its hearing on grounds of short service on the parties.

The Supreme Court constituted by a single judge, Justice Anin Yeboah, on November 16 granted permission to Amidu to orally examine Woyome on the controversial GHC51.2 million paid to him by the State.

But the lawyers for Woyome on Wednesday filed two separate motions one of which is seeking a reversal of the decision by Justice Anim because the court, which was constituted by a single judge, lacked jurisdiction to give the order of November 16.

Respondents short served with motion The other motion, seeking to stop the oral examination of Woyome, was served on Mr Amidu on Thursday morning when he showed up in court while the Attorney General’s Department was served Wednesday at exactly 3.30pm. On Thursday, the Court shot down lead counsel for Mr Woyome, Ken Anku, when he attempted to move the motion for its hearing.

Per the court rules, parties to a case have three clear days to respond to court documents filed and served on them.

Mr Anku had argued that they performed all the administrative processes by filling and ensuring that the parties were served but the court disagreed with him on his argument.

“You filed at 1.30pm [yesterday] and you want to move the motion today? I thought as a senior lawyer at the Bar you will pray for it to be adjourned unless there’s a waiver [by the respondents]” Justice Anim Yeboah said.

Short service of motion improper, unfair – Amidu Mr Amidu who is a lawyer and represented himself in court said: “I really have been served this bulky document. I haven’t even had time to go through it”. Describing it as improper, he noted it was not the first time that he has been short served with court processes in the case, adding, “I don’t think it is fair to be ambushed.

“I’m not in a position to say I’ve been waived my right because I haven’t even read the document,” he stated, and left the decision to the court.

State Attorney, Mrs Dorothy Afriyie Ansah who represented the Attorney General, told the court she was unaware whether the motion had been served on the Department to which the Court clerk prompted the judge that service was effected Wednesday. Case adjourned to Dec 1.

Justice Anin Yeboah then called for the case docket to verify, saying, “This is a court of record”.

The case docket showed the motion was served on one of the secretaries at the AG’s Department at 3.30pm Wednesday.

The judge consequently said the statutory three days had not been fulfilled, saying “It appears the respondents to this application filed at 1.30pm has just ben served. I will adjourn and give the respondents the statutory three clear days to come back”.

The judge, taking notice of other cases pending at the court, thus adjourned proceedings to December 1. Background Mr Woyome obtained the amount on claims that he helped Ghana to raise funds for the construction of stadia the CAN 2008 Nations Cup hosted by Ghana.

An Auditor General’s report released in 2010, however said the amount was paid illegally to the businessman.

The former AG, who has earned the accolade citizen vigilante for his anti-corruption pursuit, suo moto [on his own] initiated a suit at the Supreme Court against Woyome, which eventually lead to the declaration of the payment as unconstitutional two years ago.

The Court thus ordered the retrieval of GHC51.2 million from Mr Woyome but the businessman has paid only GHC 4 million to the State.

Attorney General in an attempt to retrieve the money, filed an application to that sought to orally examine Mr Woyome in court but later retreated and withdrew the application with liberty to re-file.

The AG’s decision compelled the Mr Amidu to file a similar application, which was granted by the Court on November 16.

The Court fixed November 24 for the said examination. But barely 2014 hours to the face-off in court, Woyome’s lawyers on Wednesday filed initiated a writ at the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the court’s order of November 16.

Source: 3news.com