|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
An Accra High Court has sentenced the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, to 20 years’ imprisonment with hard labour after finding him and his company, Akonta Mining, guilty of illegal mining offences at the company’s Samreboi concession in the Western Region.
The court delivered the verdict on Monday, July 20, following a trial in which Wontumi and Akonta Mining were convicted for their involvement in illegal mining activities.
During the sentencing hearing, lawyers for Chairman Wontumi appealed to the court for leniency, describing him as a first-time offender and stating that he had shown remorse.
A friend of the court, Bernard Owiredu Donkor, also pleaded for a lighter sentence, arguing that Wontumi is a businessman whose companies provide employment opportunities for many young people, and that the collapse of his businesses could affect thousands.
However, despite the appeals, the court handed down a 20-year prison sentence with hard labour.
Story by Efua Nessa