Chairman Wontumi Spends Night in Custody After Failing to Meet ₵25m Bail in Mining Cases

Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, is spending the night in police custody after failing to meet bail conditions totaling ₵25 million in two separate mining-related cases.

Earlier on Friday, the Criminal Division of the High Court in Accra granted the NPP executive ₵15 million bail after he pleaded not guilty to six counts related to breaches of Ghana’s mining laws. The charges, filed by the Office of the Attorney-General, include the unlawful assignment of mineral rights and facilitating unlicensed mining operations.

Chairman Wontumi appeared in court alongside his company, Akonta Mining Limited, and pleaded not guilty to all charges. A second accused person, Kwame Antwi, is reportedly at large.

Later in the day, Wontumi was arraigned in a separate case involving alleged illegal mining activities in the Tano Nimire Forest Reserve at Samreboi in the Western Region. In this second case, he and four others face seven additional charges, including illegal mining, felling of trees, and erecting structures within a forest reserve without authorization.

The court granted him ₵10 million bail with two sureties, one of whom must justify with landed property. However, he has so far been unable to meet the bail requirements and is expected to remain in custody overnight.

Chairman Wontumi has pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases, which form part of ongoing investigations into alleged illegal mining operations linked to his company.