Woyome mansions on sale to public
The Attorney General’s Department has taken further steps to sell the mansions of embattled National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, to defray the GH¢51.2 million he fraudulently received as judgement debt.
The Office of the Attorney General on Friday filed a motion at the Supreme Court for a determination of the reserved price for three of his residential properties, which the state is selling through public auction.
This is in fulfillment of the judgement of the Supreme Court which ordered the state to sell Woyome’s properties after he had tried to hide some of them in the name of the defunct UT Bank.
Reserved Price Adoption
The adoption of the reserved price filed by the Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, will determine the least price for which each of the identified residential properties is to be sold.
The three properties – two located at Trasacco Valley and one at Kpehe, Caprice, all in Accra – have been valued by the Lands Commission following an application by the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
Checks show that this is the first set of sales of Woyome’s properties. His quarry in the Eastern Region and a building at East Legon, which houses his Anator Holding Company, will be valued soon.
According to an affidavit in support of the motion for reserved price, the Lands Commission’s valuation of the three properties, values the three mansions at GH¢21,368,000.
The state may, however, not be able to get the GH¢21,368,000 for the properties due to a re-evaluation of the properties which placed a forced sale value of the three properties at GH¢14,957,000 which is the least amount the state could get from the sale of the three mansions.
Per the re-evaluation done by the Lands Commission, each of the two mansions located at Trasacco Valley in Accra has a market value of GH¢11,099,000, with a forced sale value of GH¢7,769,000 and GH¢6,407,000, with a forced sale value of GH¢4,485,000.
The third one which is located at Kpehe in Accra, where Woyome himself is said to reside, has a market value of GH¢3,862,000 with a forced sale value of GH¢2,703,000.
Properties Sale
The Supreme Court presided over by a single judge, Justice Alfred A. Benin, last month ordered the state to go ahead and sell four properties of beleaguered businessman Alfred Woyome to defray the judgement debt he fraudulently took from the state.
Woyome then colluded with defunct UT Bank to hide the properties from the state as the court found out.
African Court
Prior to the judgment of the Supreme Court, Woyome had run to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights based in Arusha, Tanzania, where he filed a case against Ghana claiming discrimination and violations against his human rights.
However, in a unanimous decision, the court dismissed the application stating that Woyome’s right to non-discrimination, right to equality before the law, equal protection before the law and his right to be heard by an impartial tribunal had all not been violated.
Payment Plan
Mr. Woyome has since vowed to fight the decision of the single judge by seeking a review at the Apex court.
He disclosed that should the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Right order that he pays the money, he will sit with the state and come up with a payment plan.