Woyome prevents officials from valuing his Kpehe residence
Businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome on Thursday prevented officials from the Lands Commission and Attorney General's Department (A-G) from valuing one of his properties at Kpehe in Accra.
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The officials were at the gate of the residential property but Mr Woyome denied them access.
The move was to value the house and use proceeds from the sale to defray a Gh¢51.2million debt Mr Woyome owes the state.
Mr Woyome in an interview with Joy FM said he did not err in his decision to deny representatives of the A-G and Lands Commission access to his house.
According to him, the move by the state officials constituted an illegality. “There is a process in court which the A-G is aware of since March [2016]," he said.
“My lawyer wrote to them today because the A-G wrote and said there was no process. I am wondering why they want this media drama,” he told the Accra based radio station.
“I believe that one day the Supreme Court will depart from this decision and for me, I don’t accept it. We are using every means possible externally and within the Africa region to seek a right,” he said.
Mr Woyome and his legal team had earlier described the move by the A-G to auction his properties as illegal.
The businessman was paid the said amount as judgment debt between 2009 and 2010, but the Supreme Court, in a ruling in 2014 stated that the contract that resulted in the payment of the judgment debt was unconstitutional and therefore, invalid.
Attempts
The A-G after the ruling, went back to the highest court of the land for advice because it was unable to retrieve the money.
Woyome promised to refund the money by the end of 2015 but failed to honour the promise.
In March this year, the court dismissed an application by the businessman to pay the money within three years.
Since then, the A-G has initiated further moves at retrieving the money in the attempt to auction his properties.
An attempt by the A-G to sell two properties in April 2016 took a new turn as the UT Bank moved in to claim ownership of the said properties at Trasacco in Accra.
That case is still pending, as the state is contesting it, and the effect is that the state cannot sell those properties until it is proved that the bank’s claims is false.
That, meanwhile, is not preventing the state from pursuing other properties belonging to the businessman.
Last Tuesday, a letter from the A-G’s Department and signed by Mrs Dorothy Ansah, a Chief State Attorney, directed the Lands Commission to move in to value the residential property at Kpehe in Kokomlemle, Accra.
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Lawyers for Woyome, however claimed that the A-G was using rough tactics in pursuing the case.
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