Woyome case adjourned because of courtroom recorder malfunction
Enoch Darfah Frimpong
3 minutes read
A former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Mr Vanlare L. Dosoo, was testifying when the recording equipment broke down intermittently.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew-Oppong Appiah, led a four-member delegation to the court to prosecute the matter. Other members of the team were the Solicitor-General, Mrs Amma Gaisie; a Chief State Attorney, Ms Cynthia Lamptey and a Chief State Attorney, Mr Matthew Amponsah.
Woyome has been charged with two counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretence for allegedly putting in a false representation to claim an amount of GHC51.2 million from government through a default judgement.
He has, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and is currently on a GHC20 million bail.
Led by Ms Lamptey to give his evidence-in-chief, Mr Dosoo had informed the court that he was the Chairman of the Financial Committee of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) as well as the Vice Chairman of the Stadium Bidding Committee for CAN 2008.
According to him his committee looked into the two final bids put up by Vamed Engineering and Mpowapak for the construction of stadia for CAN 2008.
He said he could recall one of the terms of reference was for the committee to ascertain the financial viability of the two companies and also find out if their (bidders) financial components were from credible financial institutions.
Mr Dosoo, who is the fifth prosecution witness, said the committee also examined timelines the money would be made available for the project.
Ms Lamptey, asked Mr Dosoo if any money came from the Bank of Austria for the stadium project but Woyome’s lawyer, Mr Osafo Buabeng, objected on the grounds that the question was “leading”.
Mr Justice Ajet-Nasam at that point requested Ms Lamptey to reframe the question but the recording equipment broke down for the third time, thereby, bringing proceedings to an end.
The judge, however, indicated that the court would continue hearing other matters.
The prosecution brought Mr Dosoo to court today after it had for three consecutive occasions, failed to produce a witness, with the explanation that the witness was out of the jurisdiction.
Woyome was in court, together with his wife and some of his employees.
Four witnesses have so far testified in the trial which began in February 2012.
The three other prosecution witnesses who have testified in the matter are a Deputy Head of the Legal Department of MOFEP, Mrs Mangowa Ghanney; a former Minister of MOFEP, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, and a former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu.
A fourth prosecution witness, Ms Yvonne Quansah, who is stationed at the Financial Sector Division of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP), testified on December 19, 2012.
Ms Quansah, who has since been discharged for completing her evidence in the trial, told the court that Vamed Engineering, which was represented by Woyome, was shortlisted, together with other companies, for the construction of stadia for CAN 2008.
Story by Mabel Aku Baneseh
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