Embattled businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome has served notice he will seek a review in a Supreme Court judgment that his properties must be sold to offset a GhC51 million judgment debt paid to him illegally by the State.
A single Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Alfred Benin, on Thursday gave the order. The properties are two executive buildings located at Trassaco in Accra, the office complex of Anator Holdings, a company owned by Mr. Woyome, two residential buildings at Caprice and Abelemkpe, both suburbs in Accra, as well as a mining quarry owned by the judgement debtor in the Eastern region of Ghana.
The state identified the properties owned by Mr. Woyome which are estimated at GHc 20 million that it believes could prove vital in retrieving the GH¢ 51.2 million judgement debt he received from the state unlawfully.
The now-defunct UT Bank has claimed some of the properties identified by the state as theirs. It was the claim of lawyers of the defunct UT Bank that Woyome, used the said properties as collateral for loans at the bank which he failed to pay back. Ownership of the properties according to UT Bank, based on the failure to pay back the loans, transferred to the bank automatically.
Reacting to the judgment, Woyome told Kasapa FM’s Nana Ama Annor he disagrees with the decision and wants to drag the case further in the apex court.
“I reject the claim by the single Judge that I’ve colluded with UT Bank and that it is not true that I took a loan from the defunct bank,” Mr. Woyome stated.
He added: “I presented in court documents concerning the loan facility and U.T did same so this particular judgment I find it very difficult to understand. I’ll move the case to a three panel Supreme Court justices to rule on it, UT Bank can also send the case there and show the court that indeed I owe them.”
“This case has just started so one should not begin jubilating that my properties will be sold. I’ll fight this case until its logical conclusion. I could look for a loan to pay the remainder of the judgment debt awarded me back to the state. But as a law-abiding citizen, I’ve been waiting to hear the ruling of the African Human Rights Court on my case before acting.
“The ruling will be done tomorrow. If the African Court says I should pay the state I’ll sit down with the state and see the way forward, if the court rules in my favour we’ll make sure that the ruling is applied in Ghana,” Mr. Woyome added.
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