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| BREAKING: Chairman Wontumi Sentenced To 20 Years Imprisonment For Illegal Mining At Samreboi |
Chairman Wontumi, real name Bernard Antwi Boasiako and Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for illegal mining activities at Samreboi in the Western Region.
An Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, found Wontumi guilty on all six counts he faced, including assigning mineral rights without ministerial approval and facilitating an unlicensed mining operation. The charges fell under Ghana's Minerals and Mining Act, which sets a punishment range of 15 to 25 years for such offences.
The sentence makes Wontumi the most senior sitting party official convicted in Ghana's ongoing galamsey crackdown, in a case that has tested how far prosecutors are willing to go against politically connected figures.
Alongside the custodial sentence, the court fined Wontumi 10,000 penalty units, equivalent to GH¢120,000, with a default term of three years imprisonment if the fine goes unpaid. The custodial sentence and the default fine term will run concurrently.
His company, Akonta Mining Limited, was also convicted on related counts but was shown leniency by the court, receiving only a financial penalty rather than a custodial sentence.
The judgment followed the court's dismissal of a last-minute defence application seeking to delay the ruling and refer constitutional questions to the Supreme Court, with the judge ruling that the relevant section of the law was clear and did not conflict with the Constitution.
This is a developing story.
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