REJOINDER: TWO PAYMENTS MADE TO WOYOME UNDER AMIDU
MARTIN AMIDU’S REJOINDER: TWO PAYMENTS MADE TO WOYOME UNDER AMIDU
I have read your Daily Graphic online publication of 15th January 2014 in which you alleged that “a prosecution witness on Tuesday told the Financial Division of the Fast Track Court that the last two installments of moneys paid to businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome in judgment debt were paid during the tenure of Mr. Martin Amidu a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.”
You also alleged in the publication that Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr. Odame Okyere “was, however, quick to add that Mr. Amidu only acted based on documents endorsed by Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu.” You alleged further that Mr. Okyere was answering questions under cross- examination from counsel for Woyome, Mr. Osafo Buabeng.
You know as the journalist for the Daily Graphic who covered the Supreme Court case of Amidu v Attorney-General & 2 Others (popularly called the “Woyome case”) that Mr. Osafo Buabeng was Mr. Woyome’s lawyer in my action in the Supreme Court and therefore has all the exhibits and legal submissions I filed in the Supreme Court showing the processes by which what I alleged were the unconstitutional payments were authorized, made, and by whom. In those circumstances I am surprised that you would choose to publish your article under the heading you gave it when you knew it to be misleading in fact, if it conveyed the impression that I authorized, endorsed, or in any way facilitated any payments on the action I had myself commenced in the Supreme Court.
The purpose of this rejoinder is to state that the impression you have conveyed to the public about my role in any payments to Mr. Woyome is not borne out by the records before the Supreme Court or any official records. You are also aware that I have a review application pending before the Supreme Court in respect of the Woyome case. It is unethical, therefore, for you to bait me for comments on this matter however newsworthy you perceive my name to carry.
I am ready, able and willing to testify for the prosecution or the accused in the on-going criminal trial should any of them feel strongly that my testimony will aid his case and invite me to do so on his behalf. If anybody has any evidence that I authorized, endorsed, or facilitated the payments to Woyome then who can better give primary evidence on such a material fact than me. There is no reason for the prosecution or the accused to depend on secondary evidence to prove a material fact when, the primary witness (myself) is available. I accordingly welcome an invitation from the Attorney-General and/or Mr. Osafo Buabeng, lawyer for Woyome, if my role is important to either case. Kindly give this rejoinder the same prominence as you gave your publication under reference.
Martin A. B. K. Amidu