THE High Court in Accra yesterday granted an application by lawyer Samuel Atta Akyea, counsel for Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, also known as Chairman Wontumi, to recall the first prosecution witness in the Tano Nimiri illegal mining case for further cross-examination.
The case has been adjourned to Tuesday, November 17, by Justice Ruby Aryeetey.
Mr Akyea had asked the court to allow him to recall the witness who testified in the trial of the former Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Antwi-Boasiako, for further cross-examination.
He made the application after the Attorney-General had closed its case against his client, who is standing trial for allegedly aiding illegal mining activities in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve in the Ashanti Region.
Dr Justice Srem-Sai, the Attorney-General and lead prosecutor, did not oppose the application by Mr Akyea to recall the witness.
At the close of its case, the prosecution had called three witnesses to establish its case against the accused.
A police detective, Eugene Akpor Glover, the third and last prosecution witness, told the court during cross-examination that Mr Antwi-Boasiako aided illegal mining activities at the Tano Nimiri mining concession.
Mr Akyea suggested to the detective during cross-examination that his client had never personally operated any machinery at the Tano Nimiri concession.
Detective Glover agreed that Mr Antwi-Boasiako had not personally operated machinery at the concession but added that the accused, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, had aided some persons to undertake mining activities contrary to law.
Chairman Wontumi is facing two separate counts of abetting the unauthorised felling of trees in a forest reserve, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Forest Protection Act, 1974 (NRCD 243), as amended by Section 1 of the Forest Protection (Amendment) Act, 2002 (Act 624), and Section 20(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
The accused has been accused of mining in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve without a licence and deliberately facilitating the unauthorised felling of more than 300 merchantable trees and an unquantifiable number of saplings in the same forest reserve.
The accused, together with his company, was charged with six counts, including undertaking mining operations without a licence, felling trees in a forest reserve without written authorisation from the competent forest authority, and abetting the unlawful felling of trees.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
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