The Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of business man Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, in an application seeking the Court to set aside all findings made against him by the Judgment Debt Commission chaired by Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau, and to quash the white paper on the findings of the Commission.
The three member panel, presided over by Justice Victor Ofoe, in their ruling has said the Mr. Apau failed to give Mr. Woyome a fair hearing, which is a breach of natural justice.
According to Justice Victor Ofoe, it was unconstitutional not to have invited Mr. Woyome before it made adverse findings against him.
According to the Court of Appeal, it was the case of the Commission that it did not invite Mr. Woyome because the matter was at the Supreme Court. They therefore relied on copious documents from Woyome and Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) to arrive at the findings.
The Supreme Court last year also ruled similarly by a unanimous decision that the findings of the Justice Yaw Apau Commission relating to the Alfred Agbesi Woyome and the Attorney General as well as the Sky Consult and the Ghana Post Limited cases were unconstitutional.
The court held that the Justice Apau Commission’s report was in breach of Articles 125(1) (3) and 127 (1) of the 1992 Constitution and amounted to judicial interference and a violation of the independence of the judiciary.
Source: Ghanajustice/F. Kyeremanteng
