The General Legal Council (GLC) has barred Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, a Chief State Attorney at the Office of the Attorney-General, from the legal profession for obtaining GH¢400,000 from Alfred Agbesi Woyome, a businessman, in 2011.
The Disciplinary Committee of the GLC, the body that regulates the legal profession, found Mr. Nerquaye-Tetteh guilty of professional misconduct under Rule 2(2) of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct and Etiquette) Rules, 1969 (L.I. 613). As a result, he was disbarred, meaning he will never be allowed to practice law in Ghana again.
In a notice dated January 31, 2024, the GLC stated that Mr. Nerquaye-Tetteh personally oversaw the direct transfer of GH¢400,000 from Mr. Woyome to his wife’s bank account while defending the state against a lawsuit filed by Woyome in 2011.
According to the GLC, Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh was unable to provide a plausible reason for the GH¢400,000 that Mr. Woyome had transferred into his wife’s bank account.
The GLC claimed that Mr. Nerquaye-Tetteh’s actions had a negative impact on the “dignity and high standing of the legal profession.”
“That, he, as a lawyer and a Chief State Attorney, having acted as counsel for the State in the case, Alfred Agbesi Woyome vs. Attorney General & Anor had an amount of Four Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢400,000.00) transferred directly from Mr Alfred Woyome into the bank account of his wife, Mrs. Gifty Nerquaye-Tetteh without any reasonable explanation; a conduct or act that adversely affects the dignity and high standing of the legal profession.”
“SAMUEL NERQUAYE-TETTEH shall not hold himself out as a lawyer or attend chambers or render or purport to render any professional legal services to the public. The practising licence of Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh is hereby withdrawn forthwith,” the notice said.
The notice was signed by the Judicial Secretary, Justice Cynthia Pamela Koranteng.
