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Embattled businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome is aksing the Supreme Court to set aside the sale of his mansions to offset the Ghc51million judgment debt that he owes the State after the auctioneers allegedly used cloak and dagger tactics to sell the properties.
An affidavit accompanying a motion of notice suggested that the auctioneers did not publicly carry out the auction of his two mansions at Trassaco Valley as the Supreme Court had instructed, and that the sale happened secretly after the auction had failed to take place.
According to the affidavit, on the 31st of August, 2020, when his mansion at Plot No. 260, Ameri Court and Plot No.259, also at Ameri Court, Trassaco Valley, had been scheduled for auctioning, he was present at Plot No. 260 and also strategically placed an assign of his at Plot No.259.
However, neither the auctioneer nor the prospective buyers of the properties turned up, implying the auction had failed. After this failure, the auctioneer then apparently went on to privately sell the properties to new buyers.
“I…depose further that by section 20 (1) of the Auction Sales Act, 1989, the employment of an auctioneer to sell property by public auction does not authorize the auctioneers, in case the public auction fails, to sell the property by private contract,” Woyome stated.
“That the auctioneer, having published a specific date and time where the public auction ought to take place, cannot by some private arrangement decide to sell the properties to the alleged buyers.”
Mr. Woyome accused the auctioneer of consistently breaching the rules of auction, pointing out that even before the auction, the auctioneer had been served with a motion but he disregarded the process and went ahead to undertake the alleged dubious auction.
“That in the circumstance, I very sincerely and humbly pray that this honorable court makes an order setting aside the purported sale of the properties described in paragraph 6 above on grounds that it was not made in accordance with the rules of court,” the affidavit said.
It is dated the 19th of October 2020. Per court documents, the motion for an order vacating the sale of the two mansions has been scheduled for 3rd November, 2020.
The Supreme Court directed for Mr. Woyome’s properties to be auctioned to offset Ghc51million judgment debt that he received from the government in 2009 over the Kufuor government’s refusal to pay him for financial engineering he did for the construction of stadia for the CAN 2008 after the contract was abrogated.
Mr. Woyome has said he deserved the money which was secured as a judgment debt during the Mills era. However, the government has said that he forged his eligibility for the money,.
After years of battles in court, the Supreme Court directed the State to auction his properties. However, it appears that people in the Akufo-Addo government are trying to grab the properties for themselves for cheap.
From his affidavit, Mr. Woyome was at the properties in question on the dates that they were scheduled to be auctioned, probably so he could buy them back. However, neither the auctioneer nor prospective buyers turned up, only for him to later discover that the properties had been sold.