Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), offered a GH¢30 million settlement as part of a plea deal in the Ghana Export-Import (EXIM) Bank fraud case, but the Office of the Attorney-General rejected it.
Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, revealed this to reporters in Accra on Tuesday, stating that Mr. Antwi-Boasiako, also referred to as Chairman Wontumi, had made an insufficient offer.
He states that the State is requesting the entire GH¢30 million plus interest.
According to Dr. Srem-Sai, the Attorney-General’s Office has not yet had a formal meeting with Mr. Antwi-Boasiako’s legal team to discuss its stance on the proposed settlement.
His remarks were made the day after Mr. Antwi-Boasiako was given to 20 years in prison by the Accra High Court for aiding illicit mining operations on his concession in Samreboi, Western Region.
The parties were given 30 days by the High Court, which was presided over by Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul-Baasit, to complete plea bargain negotiations and submit a report to the court on June 5.
After being accused of securing an EXIM Bank financing through fraudulent means for a putative large-scale farming project, Mr. Antwi-Boasiako started negotiating a plea deal with the Attorney-General’s Office.
Under Ghana’s plea bargaining system, an accused person may, with the court’s approval, reach a deal with the prosecution to avoid a full trial. The court may impose a fine, a non-custodial sentence, or any other legal punishment if it is approved.
The first accused, Mr. Antwi-Boasiako; the second accused, Thomas Antwi-Boasiako, who is presently at large; and Wontumi Farms Limited are accused of money laundering, uttering fake documents, and defrauding by false pretence.
The prosecution claims that Mr. Antwi-Boasiako claimed to have acquired roughly 100,000 acres of land when he applied to EXIM Bank in January 2018 for financial assistance to start a large-scale farming enterprise.
The bank later granted a loan and grant facility of GH18.73 million, of which GH14.3 million was given to Wontumi Farms Limited, according to the Deputy Attorney-General.
Investigations, however, purportedly revealed that no agricultural apparatus was acquired as stated and that the planned farming project was never carried out.
In order to facilitate the release of more monies, the prosecution further claimed that the accused gave EXIM Bank a falsified document that purported to be proof of the purchase of GH¢4 million worth of agricultural equipment.
The prosecution claims that investigations showed the paper was initially a pro forma invoice from KAS-SAMA Enterprise rather than a receipt as it was sent to the bank.
The State further claimed that while EXIM Bank’s attempts to retrieve the money were unsuccessful, significant amounts of the funds were taken out and used for personal and other business endeavours.
Source: newsthemegh.com