Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, widely known as Chairman Wontumi, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison with hard labour after the High Court in Accra found him guilty on all six charges linked to illegal mining activities.

The judgment was delivered on Monday by Justice Audrey Kocuvie Tay, an Appeal Court judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, following the court’s dismissal of an application by defence lawyer Samuel Atta Akyea to defer the judgment pending a decision by the Supreme Court on a related application.

Chairman Wontumi, together with Akonta Mining Company Ltd and co-accused Kwame Antwi, faced six charges, including assigning mineral rights without the required ministerial approval and deliberately facilitating unlicensed mining operations.

The court convicted Bernard Antwi-Boasiako on two counts of assigning mineral rights without authorisation and facilitating the breach of mining laws. Kwame Antwi and Akonta Mining Company Ltd were also found guilty on similar charges.

Following the convictions, Justice Kocuvie Tay sentenced Chairman Wontumi to 20 years’ imprisonment with hard labour. The court also ordered the confiscation by the state of assets linked to the illegal mining site.

The prosecution, led by Deputy Attorney General Justice Srem-Sai, argued that the accused unlawfully assigned mining rights and facilitated illegal mining activities in violation of Ghana’s Minerals and Mining Act. Each of the offences carries a maximum sentence of up to 25 years’ imprisonment.

Defence counsel Samuel Atta Akyea had earlier asked the court to postpone the delivery of judgment while awaiting the outcome of proceedings before the Supreme Court, but the request was refused.

The High Court subsequently entered guilty verdicts on all six charges against the three accused persons before imposing sentence on Chairman Wontumi.

Source: Metrotv