The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako popularly known as ‘Chairman Wontumi’ has been granted bail by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service after a meeting that took place on, May 26, in Accra.
The development comes days after a botched attempt by operatives of the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) and police officers to arrest him at residence on May 23 – a move that sparked mixed reactions from the general public as well as a massing up of NPP loyalists outside his home in protest.
Speaking in a media interaction after his release, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako revealed that he was charged with alleged involvement in illegal mining.
However, he indicated to the law enforcement officials that he does not engage in galamsey activities as part of his business dealings in the country.
“I was invited to the Police CID Headquarters to be questioned over my alleged involvement in illegal mining activities which I have categorically told the Police I am not involved in. I presented my lawful mining licence to the officers to prove my legitimate business interests in the mining industry and challenged them to provide evidence to the contrary which they failed to do as well.”
Chairman Wontumi further intimated that although his mining firm applied for a licence to mine in a forest reserve, the Forestry and Minerals Commissions together with the Lands Commissions indicated to him that the area was a protected zone.
He also touched on some alleged issues of financial impropriety about some of his dealings with some COCOBOD related contracts which he termed untrue.
“There are also some claims going round that I took some unearned monies from COCOBOD to build roads and I did not finish those contracts which are not factual. Per standard operating procedure with such contracts, the entity requires you to pre-finance your work and later raise a payment certificate for verification and approval and in my case it took over three years to get the whole process fulfilled, so it cannot be said that I took free money from the state.”
Chairman Wontumi is scheduled to report to back to Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on May 27,at 3:00 PM.
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Story by: Sika Togoh | univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by: Wahab Abdul Razak
