Examine $5 million judgement debt payment to Gbewaa - Amidu
A former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Martin Amidu, has petitioned the Judgement Debt Commission (JDC) to examine the case in which the state paid $5 million to Mr Yakubu Kasule, owner of Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited, in 2010.
Advertisement
Mr Amidu wants the commission to establish whether or not the payment of the $5 million to Mr Kasule was properly done.
Mr Kasule had four cases on contractual disagreements pending in court against the state.
The then Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, decided to strike a settlement between the government and Kasule, which culminated in the payment of $5 million to him in 2010.
Cases
The first case was titled Yakubu Kasule/Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited versus Theophilus Cudjo (former Serious Fraud Office (SFO) boss), the SFO and the Attorney-General.
Case number two was Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited versus the Attorney-General, while the third case was the Attorney-General versus Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited.
The last case was titled Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited/Yakubu Kasule versus Kolon (UK) Limited and the Attorney General.
Martin’s worry
Giving details of Mr Amidu’s petition at the JDC sitting in Accra yesterday, counsel for the commission, Mr Dometi Kofi Sokpor, said the beef of Amidu was that so long as the cases were separate and had not been consolidated, “the Attorney General had no business striking a settlement”.
Other Trending Stories
He said if anything at all, there should have been consolidation before the settlement.
Mr Sokpor explained that normally when there were terms of settlement between two parties, the terms of settlement would have to be filed in court.
He said the court, having looked at the terms of settlement, would then pronounce judgement as if there were a full trial.
Solicitor General on petition
The acting Solicitor General, Mrs Helen Akpena Awo Ziwu, provided some documents covering the four cases between Mr Kasule and the state when she appeared before the commission yesterday.
The Sole Commissioner, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, asked her whether the cases were consolidated, or whether the terms of settlement were entered as a consent judgement.
Mrs Ziwu said she had not located any file in the records to indicate whether the cases were consolidated or whether the terms of settlement were entered as a consent judgement.
She tendered in the terms of settlement between the state and Mr Kasule and the memos of the meetings between the two parties to the commission.