The High Court has sentenced the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, to 20 years in prison over illegal mining activities on the Samreboi concession in the Western Region.
The court also imposed a fine of 10,000 penalty units on Wontumi, with a default sentence of three years’ imprisonment if the fine is not paid.
Akonta Mining Company, however, escaped a custodial sentence but was hit with a 15,000 penalty units for each count.
The court had earlier found Mr Bernard Antwi-Boasiako and Akonta Mining guilty on all six counts brought against them.
The counts include assigning mineral rights without approval and purposely facilitating an unlicensed mining operation contrary to the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), as amended.
This followed the Court’s rejection of a request from his legal representatives to postpone the judgment and to refer certain elements of the case to the Supreme Court for constitutional interpretation before the court’s ruling.
The application, filed on July 16, 2026, argued that constitutional issues raised in the defence’s written address required interpretation by the apex court.
Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay determined that the request for adjournment was without merit after the defence counsel indicated to the court that the principal attorney, Samuel Atta Akyea, was out of the country and would return on July 22.
Chairman Wontumi, along with Akonta Mining Company Limited and a co-defendant, Kwame Antwi, faced trial for illegal mining operations on the company’s concession in Samreboi, Western Region.
The prosecution contended that the defendants improperly allocated mineral rights on the concession without obtaining the necessary approval from the sector minister and enabled mining activities without the requisite authorisation, in violation of the Minerals and Mining Act.
Throughout the trial, Chairman Wontumi denied authorising prosecution witness Henry Okum, referred to as PW2, to undertake mining activities on the company’s concession.
He told the court that the arrangement with Mr Okum was strictly for land reclamation and coconut plantation activities, and not for mining.
