We helped Martin Amidu contest Waterville case – Attorney-General

Martin AmiduThe Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department says it stood by and supported Mr. Martin Amidu in his legal contest against Waterville Holdings at the Supreme Court.

In a press release issued today June 19, 2013 and copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, the Attorney-General’s Department said Mr Amidu was not left on his own to fight this case against Waterville.

It said with reference to the recent Supreme Court judgment ordering the refund of an amount of about €40 million paid to Waterville Holdings, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department wishes to state Contrary to the impression created by various media reports that Mr. Martin Amidu was left on his own to fight this case against Waterville, the Attorney General’s office researched and supported the filing of processes “leading to our identification with and support for Mr. Amidu in the matter of Martin Amidu vrs. Attorney-General, Waterville (BVI) Holdings, Austro-Invest and Alfred Woyome. These are matters of public record and can be verified from the Registrar of the Supreme Court.”

Among others, Department said it is extending similar support to Mr. Amidu in his case against the Attorney-General, Isofotun SA and Anana-Agyei Forson for which judgment is expected to be given this Friday June 21.

“In this instance, the Attorney-General’s Office personally researched and supervised the filing of processes in support of Mr. Amidu. This is also a matter of public record and can be verified,” it said.

According to the government’s legal office, prior to the institution of both cases by Mr. Amidu in the Supreme Court, the Attorney-General’s Office had already initiated action in the High Court to set aside the consent judgments in the case against Woyome and Isofotun. These cases were put on hold when Mr. Amidu filed the two cases in the Supreme Court.

“We also wish to assure the general public that the Attorney-General’s Office has officially declared a zero tolerance policy for Judgment Debts improperly/ illegally obtained and has taken a number of steps to defend the State’s interest in that regard. A case in point is SWEATER and SOCKS vrs. AG, where the Attorney–General’s direct intervention saved the state a sum of $28.5 million.

“She (referring to the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mrs Marrietta Brew-Oppong Appiah) personally led the Solicitor-General and the Principal State Attorney to the High Court 9 of Her Ladyship, Mrs. Elizabeth Ankama to move the motion to set aside the payment order for an amount that the Bank of Ghana had set out a dedicated account to pay, after plaintiffs had garnisheed some Government Accounts. She also moved to deflect the Contempt Motion against the then acting Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Henry Wampah, in High Court 22 of His Lordship, JUSTICE Godwin Gabor,” the release indicated.

The release also pointed out that there are countless instances in which the Attorney-General’s office has intervened to save the state millions of cedis including but not limited to Rona Construction Limited v. Ehwiaa Sawmills, Attorney-General in the Ashanti Region and Mahogany Furniture Limited v. Attorney-General in the Western Region.

A monitoring and evaluation mechanism has been set up in the Attorney General’s Department to keep track of all cases involving the State in order to avert losses, it noted.

“We wish to state that we have initiated processes to obtain a copy of the Judgment in order to study it to determine our next course of action,” the release signed by the Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine said.

Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mr. Martin Amidu sort for and received judgment at the Supreme Court which on Friday June 14, 2013 which directed Waterville Holdings Limited to refund to the state monies obtained illegally through contracts.

The court gave the directive indicating that the agreement has not been put before parliament and is inconsistent with the law of the state.

The Court gave the directive following arguments before it by former Attorney-General Martin Amidu that neither Waterville nor businessman Alfred Agbesie Woyome, had a valid contract with the state.

The judges granted some of the reliefs out of 14 reliefs sought by the former Attorney General.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

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