The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, also known as Wontumi, was convicted of illegal mining.
In a ruling on Monday morning, the Accra High Court convicted him guilty. He is still in court awaiting his punishment while his lawyers are minimising the sentence
In the Samreboi mining concession case, Chairmam Wonumi was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
According to Justice Agbenorsi of Graphic Online, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, also known as Chairman Wontumi, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Accra High Court after he and his company, Akonta Mining Limited, were found guilty on six counts of facilitating an unlicensed mining operation and assigning mineral rights without ministerial approval.
The prosecution’s case was that Chairman Wontumi and Akonta Mining allowed Henry Okoom and Michael Gyedu Ayisi to conduct mining operations on the company’s concession without obtaining the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources’ prior approval, thereby facilitating illegal mining on the land, according to the court presided over by Justive Audrey Kocuvie-Tay.
Chairman Wontuml will serve three years in prison in addition to the imprisonment sentence if he does not pay GHc 120,000. On two counts, however, his company will pay GHc 180,000.
The court, which relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, concluded that the defence never disputed the lack of ministerial consent, characterising the admission as tacit because the corporation had not submitted an application for approval.
Chairman Wontumi informed the court that he had only given Henry Okoom authority to reclaim land by planting coconuts, not to mine.
He said that Okoom had portrayed himself as a provider of mine support services and that he was unaware that Okoom was a small-scale miner.But the court decided that this justification was insufficient.
It further stated that Okoom informed the court in uncontested testimony that he mined on unmined areas of the concession to recover costs after Chairman Wontumi failed to provide him with money for the reclamation work, and that Chairman Wontumi led no evidence to support Okoom’s claimed reclamation experience.
Based on the rules of circumstantial evidence outlined in Duah v. The Republic [1987-88] 1 GLR 343, the court concluded that Wontumi had deliberately allowed Okoom to mine because there was no plausible explanation.
Wontumi’s later claim that he anticipated Okoom recovering his expenses from the eventual sale of matured coconuts was rejected as an afterthought.
Corporate veil The court lifted Akonta Mining’s corporate veil, citing the exceptions in the landmark case of Morkor v. Kuma, concluding that the business lacked an executive board or functional management.
It concluded that, at the time of the offences, Chairmam Wontumi was the only person in charge of the company and the real de facto owner of the mineral right.
“The A3’s corporate veil should be lifted as there is no real difference between the two (Chairmam Wontumi and Akonta) in relation with dealing with the the persons permitted to mine.
The judgement stated “There was no functioning management board and executive management board to deal as a company. All acts were done by Chairman Wontumi, the true de facto holder of the mineral right.”
A number of solicitors alternately prayed for mitigation and persuaded the judge to impose the minimal punishment on the offender.
There will be more to come.
Source: newsthemegh.com