By Frank Amponsah
The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame has indicated that the GH¢10 trillion quoted by the President as the amount saved by the Ministry from judgement debts payment, is an understatement.
According to him, there are more savings which the President hasn’t mentioned in his statement, as the GH¢10 trillion was in respect to a single case.
Speaking at a Press conference in his office, Godfred Yeboah Dame
Indicated that over 15 trillion Ghana Cedis have been saved and all these are in respect of judgement debts that have been set aside since 2020.
It could be recalled that the President praised the performance of the Office of the Attorney General under his administration during his State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Tuesday, February 27, when he highlighted the significant role played by the Attorney-General’s Office in saving the state from paying judgment debts totaling GH¢10 trillion.
He said: “The Attorney-General has continued, in a very effective manner, the tradition under this administration of contesting every civil litigation against the state, and has avoided the numerous judgment debts that used to be given against the state. The Office, as a result, has saved the country over ten trillion Ghana cedis (GH¢10 trillion).”
However, Godfred Yeboah Dame said, the Ten trillion Cedis was just in one case; African Automobile Limited against Ministry of Employment, Manpower and Labour Relations and the Attorney General.
He explained that the original order by the Court was GHC10,331,849,000.00 which was as a result of a default on the part of government in a transaction for the supply of equipment and vehicles to Government of Ghana.
According to him, the original sum was just about GHC979,000 as at 1999 and by the time the judgement was awarded, it had ballooned to 10 trillion.
In view of this, the Attorney General’s office straightaway, filed processes to have the payment set aside, on the basis of fraud.
The Writ, he said, was filed at the High Court challenging the order for payment on the basis of fraud and a Grant and Application by the Court suspending the payment.
He stressed that the said action was instituted based on fraud and hence must begin at the High Court; the Attorney General went back to the High Court, “that is the Proper thing to do.”
The Attrney General also pointed out that, per the final ruling setting aside the earlier order for payment, government of Ghana is not under any obligation to pay amount because by their own contention, the whole sum ought not to be paid, since they are not saying that they owe a part of it.
He also mentioned another case; the China Dalian case which involved 582billion Ghana Cedis against the government of Ghana.
He mentioned that, ultimately the Supreme Court in a ruling dated January 2023 set aside the order for payment on the basis that the claimant had no capacity at all.
“The court said if they actually want to claim the money, they must come to court and prove their identity and capacity and since then they have not been able to do so. Actually, they have no such capacity, the person who actually entered transactions with the State had died in England and does not exist,” he stated.
