Mr Mahama said the former attorney general Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong did her best to protect the interest of Ghanaians in the court battle against Mr Woyome towards recovering the money for the State.
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Mr Mahama said the former attorney general Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong did her best to protect the interest of Ghanaians in the court battle against Mr Woyome which was aimed at recovering the money for the State.
The Supreme Court has ordered Mr Woyome to refund GHS51.2 million to the state.
The court stated that Mr Woyome got the money out of an invalid contract between the state and Waterville Holdings Limited in 2006 for the construction of stadia for CAN 2008.
But the outgone National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was not able to retrieve the money from the businessman before leaving office.
Woyome has, however, refunded GH¢4 million to state coffers, representing part payment of the GH¢51.2 million he owes the state.
He has subsequently promised to pay the outstanding balance by quarterly instalments of GH¢5 million, commencing April 1, 2017.
In a radio interview in South Africa, Mr. Mahama said the case has slowed because of some legal challenges.
“The person involved is fighting the case at different levels of the court system. But my Attorney General pursued this matter diligently and did her best to try and protect the interest of the Ghanaian people.
“We cannot be lovers of good governance and also be desirous of arbitrary justice. Under unconstitutional government, you just lock up somebody like that and seize all their assets, but here you cannot do that,” he said.
“..The Supreme Court has given a ruling which is being enforced. Indeed the person involved has been pressed to pay back some of the monies. And it is our hope that this government will continue from where we left off,” the former president added.