Wontumi charged for facilitating unlicensed mining operation by permitting 2 people to operate on his concession

Bernard Antwi Boasiako, also known as Chairman Wontumi, who is the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party and owner of Akonta Mining Company Limited, has been arraigned at the High Court in Accra for allegedly permitting two people to undertake mining operations on his company’s mining concession without obtaining approval from the sector minister. 

Chairman Wontumi and his company have been slapped with two counts of assignment of mineral rights without approval and two counts of purposely facilitating an unlicensed mining operation at Samreboi in the Western Region. 

Meanwhile, Kwame Antwi, a director of Akonta Mining Company Limited, who has also been charged with two counts of assignment of mineral rights without approval and purposely facilitating an unlicensed mining operation, is currently on the run. 

Chairman Womtumi has pleaded not guilty to the charges at the Criminal Division of the High Court presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay.