Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to purposely facilitating an unlicensed mining operation at Samreboi in the Western Region, when he appeared before the High Court in Accra.
Consequently, Antwi-Boasiako was granted GH¢15 million bail by the court, presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay. As part of the bail condition, the court barred the accused from travelling outside Ghana pending the determination of the case.
The Office of the Attorney General preferred criminal charges against three accused persons — Antwi-Boasiako, a shareholder of Akonta Mining, and Kwame Antwi, a director of the company. Their charges include alleged illegal mining offences, such as assignment of mineral rights without approval and purposely facilitating an unlicensed mining operation at Samreboi in the Western Region.
Antwi, the co-accused, who is charged with two counts of assignment of mineral rights without approval and purposely facilitating an unlicensed mining operation, is currently on the run.
Appearing before Justice Kocuvie-Tay, the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Justice Edem Srem-Sai, told the court that Antwi-Boasiako stated in both his police charge statement and investigative caution statement that he never saw or heard of Kwame Antwi after they completed the company registration and other formalities in 2010.
Dr Srem-Sai said investigations established that the accused exercised absolute control over Akonta Mining Company’s activities. He further informed the court that investigations were ongoing to establish the existence and, if so, the identity of Kwame Antwi, the second accused.
The prosecutor also stated that as part of the Republic’s fight against the galamsey (illegal mining) menace, the Ghana Police Service embarked on a special operation on April 16, 2025, at the Samreboi area.
At the end of the operation on April 17, 2025, the police arrested Michael Ayisi Gyedu, a 50-year-old native of Samreboi, and 28 others within Akonta Mining Company’s concession.
He added that during the arrest, the police retrieved eight pump-action guns, one single-barreled gun, five pieces of metal suspected to be gold concealed in a sachet, four machetes, several water pumping machines, 310 AAA/BB cartridges, one grease gun, four motorcycles, two vehicles, cash of GH¢157,000.00, 25 serviceable excavators, and four non-serviceable excavators.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
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