Ensure Wayome Pays What He Owes To The State – Martin Kpedu Tells AG

Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has raised concerns about businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome’s threats to sue the General Legal Council (GLC) over the disbarment of legal practitioner Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh.

Woyome’s threat came after the GLC took action against Nerquaye-Tetteh for professional misconduct.

Mr Kpebu has highlighted Woyome’s willingness to invest in legal action, indicating substantial resources. He suggests that the government should reciprocate by pursuing the payment of outstanding debts owed to the state.

Alfred Agbesi Woyome, a businessman
Speaking to Citi News, Kpebu emphasized the need for the Attorney General to take steps to compel Woyome to settle the debts owed to the state.

“Once you find Woyome willing to extend resources to Nerquaye-Tetteh, the immediate point that jumps at me is that, where is the balance of the money that Woyome owes to the state? It is our money—money that we badly need to eliminate the myriad of social problems—that we have to demand that Woyome return every Cedi. Now that Woyome has money to pay lawyers to court to support Nerquaye-Tetteh, this should be the time that the Attorney General should also go after him to return the monies, and since he has money with him, he should be willing to pay.”

Background

A Chief State Attorney at the Office of the Attorney-General, Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, has been disbarred as a lawyer by the General Legal Council (GLC) for collecting GH¢400,000 from businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome in 2011.

Mr. Nerquaye-Tetteh has been disbarred, meaning he can no longer practice as a lawyer in Ghana. The Disciplinary Committee of the GLC, the regulatory body of the legal profession, found him guilty of professional misconduct under Rule 2(2) of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct and Etiquette) Rules, 1969 (L.I. 613).

In a notice dated January 31, 2024, the GLC stated that while defending the state against a suit by Woyome in 2011, Mr. Nerquaye-Tetteh personally caused the direct transfer of an amount of GH¢400,000 from Mr. Woyome to the bank account of his wife.

The GLC further stated that Mr. Nerquaye-Tetteh could not offer any reasonable explanation for the said transfer of the GH¢400,000 into his wife’s bank account from Mr. Woyome.

According to the GLC, the conduct of Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh had adversely affected “the “dignity and high standing of the legal profession.”

Source:leakynews