This was after the court had ruled that Mr Woyome got the money out of unconstitutional and invalid contracts between the state and Waterville Holdings Limited in 2006 for the construction of CAN 2008 stadia.

Subsequently, in 2020 the Supreme Court directed government to purchase some properties belonging to Mr Woyome after then-Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame urged the Apex court to allow the state to take ownership since an auctioneer failed to sell them to offset the ¢51.2 million debt the businessman owes the state.

The properties include two mansions at Trassaco Estate, a house at Kpehe where he resides, an office complex of Anator Holdings, a residential building at Abelemkpe and a stone quarry in the Eastern Region including its plants and equipment.

But years on, the state has yet to recover the money.

In an interview with JoyNews’ Elton Brobbey, the Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah Yeboah said efforts have been made by the state to retrieve the money.

“Recoveries have been made but we have not recovered everything from him. I cannot be specific about what is left but I can say that some monies have been recovered.

“We also attempted to do some execution when it comes to his properties. So we are still in the process but he has not paid everything,” he explained.

Touching on the $170 million judgment debt awarded to Trafigura, the Deputy Attorney General said negotiations are still ongoing.

Trafigura, the majority owner of the power company Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC), secured the award in January 2021 after an arbitral tribunal in London found that Ghana had unlawfully terminated a contract for the installation and operation of two power plants.

The government was ordered to pay $170 million to the company or risk losing its property through auctioning.

But Mr Tuah Yeboah says Ghana’s property is safe since the Finance Ministry is engaging the company.

“We wrote to the Finance Ministry to enter into negotiations again with the judgment creditors and my understanding is that they are talking but where they are now I don’t know the state of it.

“Currently the properties are safe but if we do not pay at the end of the day the creditors may want to find means but I can give the assurance that the Finance Ministry is taking every step possible to ensure that negotiations are made and we agree on how much we are to pay and when and where.”

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According to him, certain conduct is unacceptable in the legal profession as they are believed to influence the decision of verdicts.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Friday, Mr. Kpebu said “It is not possible. It is not legally allowed for Mr Woyome to do what he did at the time. It is indefensible, so putting it plainly, it is against the ethics of the profession. That is how the General Legal Council found Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh liable. He needn’t have done so.”

Mr Kpebu’s condemnation of the act follows Mr Woyome’s comments that he has never paid, nor will he ever pay a bribe, arguing that the state attorney is being victimised.

In a notice dated January 31, 2024, the GLC said while defending the state against a suit by Mr Woyome in 2011, Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh personally caused the direct transfer of an amount of GH¢400,000 from Mr Woyome to the bank account of his wife.

According to the GLC, Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh could not offer any reasonable explanation for the said transfer of the GH¢400,000 into the bank account of his wife.

However, Mr. Woyome says the money was a loan he advanced Mrs Nerquaye-Tetteh for her business.

But Mr Kpebu insists that by the standards of the legal profession, this was wrong and no reason is good enough to justify the action.

Again, the legal practitioner added that in this instance, the best response to the matter was to be quiet. 

“If it was so genuine, it needn’t have come from M.r Woyome himself, he could have asked his friends to do that. Not when Mr Nerquarye-Tetteh had something to do with the case. There is no way he can justify it.

“Sometimes, silence is golden. You don’t need to speak. I am even wondering why Woyome is speaking because the more he speaks then the more he reminds us about how he has embarrassed us as a nation with what he did,” he added.

Mr Kpebu added that the businessman’s humanitarian act only leaves a lot of lingering questions, including whether he has been able to fully pay the judgment debt. 

“You know, as he is even talking now if has managed to give on humanitarian grounds, the first question we should be asking is that, has he finished paying back the judgment debt? 

“You see when he speaks then he reminds us that he is taking us for fools. Has Woyome paid the judgment debt? That money that he was paid to…, you know the Supreme Court held in the civil case on review that he should refund that money.

“Has he finished paying? The last thing I knew, some of his company assets were attached and all that. But I know that he has not finished paying. So he should learn how to keep quiet. It is not always that you talk,” he added.

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Addressing the media on Friday, Mr Woyome described the GLC’s decision as a contempt of court.

Mr Woyome, who is at the centre of the GH¢51 million Waterville judgment debt case argued that judicial decisions have cleared him and anyone else involved in the contract of any misconduct.

“Thank God that we have got all the judgments. Thank God that I am waiting for the Supreme Court to do the honourable thing by departing away from the so-called linking me to something that I am not part of. I can say that I pledge on my honour that I will remain very active to make sure that the institution of government do the right thing. And I want to announce here that I am taking the General Legal Council (GLC) to court early next week,” he stated.

Mr Woyome’s remarks come after GLC disbarred Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh from practising as a lawyer over the collection of GH¢400,000 in 2011.

In a notice dated January 31, 2024, the GLC said while defending the state against a suit by Mr Woyome, Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh personally caused the direct transfer of the money from Mr Woyome to his wife’s bank account.

Admitting to making the transfer, the businessman insisted it was purely on humanitarian grounds and cannot be the basis for the GLC’s action.

“We will pursue GLC and the AG for them to stop what they are doing. Nerquaye-Tetteh’s wife’s money that I sent to her was on the basis of what I do at WOFA, Wilmy Foundation for Africa.

“I pay fees and pay other things for many people across the whole African country. When I work that is what I used my money for, philanthropy,” he noted.

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This means Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh can never practice as a lawyer again, in Ghana.

The decision was reached after the Disciplinary Committee of the GLC, the regulatory body of the legal profession, found him guilty of professional misconduct under Rule 2(2) of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct and Etiquette) Rules, 1969 (L.I. 613).

In a notice dated January 31, 2024, the GLC said while defending the state against a suit by Woyome in 2011, Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh personally caused the direct transfer of an amount of GH¢400,000 from Mr Woyome to the bank account of his wife.

GLC said Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh could not offer any reasonable explanation for the said transfer of the GH¢400,000 into his wife’s bank account from Mr Woyome.

According to the GLC, the conduct of Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh had adversely affected “the “dignity and high standing of the legal profession.”

“That, he, as a lawyer and a Chief State Attorney, having acted as counsel for the State in the case, Alfred Agbesi Woyome vrs. Attorney General & Anor had an amount of Four Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢400,000.00) transferred directly from Mr Alfred Woyome into the bank account of his wife, Mrs. Gifty Nerquaye-Tetteh without any reasonable explanation; a conduct or act that adversely affects the dignity and high standing of the legal profession.”

“SAMUEL NERQUAYE-TETTEH shall not hold himself out as a lawyer or attend chambers or render or purport to render any professional legal services to the public. The practising licence of Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh is hereby withdrawn forthwith,” the notice said.

The notice was signed by the Judicial Secretary, Justice Cynthia Pamela Koranteng.

Below is the notice

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