The Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Justice Srem-Sai, has disclosed that the State is preparing to strongly oppose a “submission of no case” filed by lawyers for Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Basiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi.
This follows the closure of the Republic’s case against Chairman Wontumi and his two co-accused persons — Kwame Antwi, who is currently at large, and Akonta Mining Limited — over alleged illegal mining activities on the Samreboi concession.
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In a social media post, Justice Srem-Sai explained that the core allegation against the accused is that Chairman Wontumi granted portions of his mining concession to individuals for galamsey operations without obtaining the required ministerial approval, contrary to Ghana’s mining laws.
According to him, the prosecution called four witnesses to establish its case before the court.
Read the full post below:
This afternoon, our hardworking State Attorneys closed the Republic’s case against Chairman Wontumi (Bernard Antwi-Biasiako) and his 2 co-accused persons, namely, Kwame Antwi (who is at large) and Akonta Mining Limited.
The core accusation in the case is that Chairman Wontumi,…
— Justice Srem-Sai (@JusticeSremSai) February 4, 2026
This afternoon, our hardworking State Attorneys closed the Republic’s case against Chairman Wontumi (Bernard Antwi-Biasiako) and his 2 co-accused persons, namely, Kwame Antwi (who is at large) and Akonta Mining Limited.
The core accusation in the case is that Chairman Wontumi, without ever obtaining the required ministerial approval, granted his mining concession in Samreboi to others to use for galamsey. We called 4 witnesses in all.
Our first witness was one of the galamsey headmen. He was arrested together with other galamseyers in an Akonta Mining office on the concession. The headman testified that he, indeed, supervised several persons to conduct galamsey on the concession.
Our second witness was the headman’s employer. He testified that he had an arrangement with Chairman Wontumi to conduct galamsey on the concession and to reclaim land. He also testified to how Chairman Wontumi used his political influence to get national security protection for their galamsey activities on the concession.
Our third witness, a police detective, tendered in evidence investigative statements, including one in which Chairman Wontumi admitted to giving a part of his Samreboi concession to our second witness, but for purposes of land reclamation only (and not for galamsey). He gave no money for the reclamation.
Our fourth witness, a mining law and regulation expert, testified that allowing another person to carry out mining activities on a concession requires the minister’s approval. He told the Court that Akonta Mining did not have approval to let another person mine or reclaim the concession.
Chairman Wontumi’s Lawyers have told the Court that they want to submit no case. This means that they will tell the court that the Republic has not brought sufficient evidence to require Chairman Wontumi to even open his mouth to defend himself.
The lawyers have 14 days within which to make their submission of no case. Our Attorneys will oppose the submission of no case