The Office of the Attorney General (AG) has filed fresh charges at the High Court against the convicted Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, increasing the charges from four to five in the GHc30 million Exim Bank loan facility case.
With the latest charge sheet filed on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, the previous one on May 15, which preferred four charges in relation to the GH¢30 million loan facility, will be withdrawn.
In the amended charge sheet, Wontumi, who is currently serving a 20-year custodial sentence, is expected to plead to defrauding by false pretence, two counts of uttering a forged document, money laundering, and intentionally causing financial loss to a public body, contrary to Section 179A(2) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
On Tuesday, September 22, when the development was brought to the attention of the presiding judge, Justice Halimah El-Alawah Abdul-Baasit, the case was adjourned to October 13 to enable the Attorney General to withdraw the previous charge sheet and substitute it with the new one, after which the accused persons including Wontumi will have their plea retaken.
Wontumi is charged together with Thomas Antwi-Boasiako, who is currently on the run, and Wontumi Farms Limited.
Prior to the filing of the amended charge sheet, the first accused (A1), Chairman Wontumi, Thomas Antwi-Boasiako (A2 – at large) and Wontumi Farms Limited (A3) were facing four counts of charges per the charge sheet filed on May 15, 2026.
An attempt to plea bargain with the state under the Plea Bargaining Act, broke down, with the trial set to proceed through the normal course before the latest development.
Virtual Court session
In a virtual court session on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, before the Vacation Court presided over by Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul-Baasit, the prosecution, represented by Joshua Sackey, a Principal State Attorney (PSA), said, “We have filed a new charge sheet this morning (Tuesday, Sept. 22), and we have given a copy of the charge sheet to counsel for the accused persons.”
He added, “We wish to withdraw the charge sheet which we filed on the 15th May, 2026, and substitute same with the charge sheet which we filed on the 22nd of Sept. 2026.”
The PSA said, “This will afford the accused persons the opportunity to have their plea taken on the next adjourned date.”
Nana Nti Ofori-Debrah, who was holding brief for lead counsel for the accused, Samuel Atta Akyea, said, “Indeed, I have just received a copy of the new charge sheet.”
He added that, “I am yet to peruse it and also show it to the substantive counsel. In the circumstance, I humbly pray that both the substitution and the taking of plea should be taken at the adjourned date not too remote from now.”
Brief facts
Per the brief facts, the 1st Accused Person – Wontumi (A1), a 50-year-old entrepreneur, is a native of Kuntanase in the Ashanti Region. He is the sole shareholder and one of the two directors of the 3rd Accused Person – Wontumi Farms Limited (A3).
The 2nd Accused Person – Thomas Antwi-Boasiako (A2) is the other director of A3. He is at large.
Wontumi Farms (A3), whose object is general farming, agricultural business and processing, was incorporated and authorised to commence business on December 14, 2017.
The facts stated that, sometime in January 2018, A1 approached the Ghana Export-Import Bank for a grant of a Nineteen Million Ghana Cedi facility to embark on a farming venture.
It said, in the grant application letter, Wontumi (A1), ostensibly as Wontumi Farms’s Managing Director, declared that a parcel of land – 100,000 acres in size – had been secured for the project.
The brief facts added that, “Accompanying the grant application letter are two documents.”
First document
It stated that the first document is a letter titled ‘Board Resolution Letter’ and dated January 23, 2018.
It explained that the said letter was signed by A2, who described himself as the Board Chairman of A3. And the letter stated that the grant application was authorised by A3’s board of directors through a resolution passed on December 9, 2017 (four clear days before A3 was incorporated).
Second document
The second document which accompanied the application is titled “Proposed Project for Wontumi Farms.”
It said, in this project proposal, the accused persons represented to the bank that just 2,500 hectares (about 6,000 acres) of the farm project is estimated to employ about 6,000 families of about 38,000 individuals.
Wontumi (A1), it said, also presented a pro-forma invoice from a company named EPSONS GHANA LIMITED, dated December 15, 2017, to the bank.
By this pro-forma invoice, Wontumi (A1) created the impression to the bank’s officials that A3 was in the process of purchasing agricultural plant and machinery worth Four Million, Two Hundred and Fifty-Six Thousand, Five Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH¢4,256,500.00) to enhance its farming activities.
The document stated that investigations have revealed that EPSONS GHANA LIMITED does not exist and that the pro-forma invoice is a forged document.
Loan & grant facility
The brief facts stated that on January 16, 2018, the bank made a mixture of loan and grant facility offer to A3. It was an Eighteen Million, Seven Hundred and Thirty-Four Thousand and Two Hundred and Sixty Ghana Cedis only (GH¢18,734,260.00) facility.
It was to be spent on the purchase of agricultural plant and machinery, working capital and a grant for staff and labour cost, and consultancy fees.
It said, at 4 p.m. on January 23, 2018, Wontumi (A1) signed the acceptance in Kumasi while A2 witnessed it.
By March 2018, it said, the bank commenced disbursing the facility to Wontumi Farms (A3) and that a total sum of Fourteen Million, Three Hundred and Two Thousand Ghana Cedis only (GH¢14,302,000.00) was disbursed.
No farm activity
The facts stated that investigations have, however, established that the accused persons did not undertake the proposed farming activity.
“They bought no agricultural plant and machinery. They employed no one to work on the farm. They did not own or secure the parcel of land which they represented to the bank as a parcel of land secured for the proposed farm,” it stated.
“That is not all,” the brief facts stated.
It added that, “Sometime in March 2018, A1 presented a document which bore ‘Receipt’ to the bank. A1 (Wontumi) presented the document as evidence that A3 (Wontumi Farms) had purchased Four Million Ghana Cedis only (GH¢4,000,000.00) worth of agricultural plant and machinery for the farm.
“The bank relied on the document to advance more funds to A3 for the farm project,” it stated.
Alleged forgery
The brief facts further explained that, “The document was not a genuine purchase receipt at all. It was originally a pro-forma invoice issued by the KAS-SAMA ENTERPRISE to A1 when A1 made price inquiries.
“A1, then, undertook to return later to make the purchase. That was the last time that KAS-SAMA ENTERPRISE heard from or saw A1,” it added.
Investigation has established that the inscription “Pro-forma Invoice” on the document was altered and replaced with “Receipt”.
Investigations have established that A1 withdrew huge sums of the funds from A3’s bank accounts and spent the same for his personal use, including investing such sums in other business enterprises.
All efforts by the bank to recover the monies from the accused persons hit a snag. So, in March 2025, officials of the Economic and Organised Crime Office and the Attorney-General commenced investigations into the matter.
A1 was subsequently arrested and cautioned and was charged.
Source:www.kumasimail.com
