The Attorney General, Dr Dominic Ayine, has filed an application at the High Court to withdraw charges against Edward Akuoko, after the accused offered to testify as a prosecution witness in the case involving Benard Antwi-Boasiko.
The AG’s decision comes after Akuoko, the General Manager of Akonta Mining reportedly offered to testify as a state witness in the ongoing case involving the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ashanti Region’s Chairman Wontumi, whose real name is Benard Antwi-Boasiko.
Akuoko is the fourth accused person in the case, and before declaring his intention to testify against Chairman Wontumi, he had pleaded not guilty to three counts of corruption-related charges.
The charges filed against him were undertaking a mining operation without a licence and two counts of abetting the unauthorised felling of trees in a forest reserve.
Chairman Wontumi’s lawyer, Andy Appiah-Kubi, explained that the AG was clothed with the legal authority to secure witnesses for the prosecution of persons alleged to have committed acts of crime or corruption.
“So if, in his good conscience, he feels it’s proper and just to use one of the accused persons against another accused person, he is the Minister for Justice, and it lies within his bosom to decide who to use in this prosecution,” he said.
Appiah-Kubi, however, seemed confident that Akuoko’s decision to testify against his former boss would not have any impact on the case.
“We are very confident that we will receive justice from the court, and therefore, whoever comes forward as a witness does so with the level of integrity expected of a prosecution witness. And, therefore, I forewarn that anyone who comes into the witness box must come in with the expected level of integrity.
So, your personal integrity is equally an issue as the evidence that you proffer in court,” he added.
Chairman Wontumi, his company, Akonta Mining, and one other individual, identified as Kwame Antwi, a director of Akonta Mining who is currently at large, are standing trial for some alleged illegal mining offenses.
On October 6, 2025, the Attorney General filed six criminal charges relating to alleged illegal mining at Samreboi in the Western Region in 2024.
According to the charge sheet, the Attorney General accused Wontumi and his company of allowing two men, identified as Henry Okum and Michael Gyedu Ayisi, to mine on Akonta’s concession at Samreboi without ministerial approval and without holding a mining license.
Okum and Gyedu Ayisi were subsequently arrested by the police after a special anti-galamsey operation in April 2025, which led to the arrest of 29 people and the seizure of mining equipment and weaponry.
The High Court had barred Chairman Wontumi from travelling outside Ghana. This came after the politician was granted bail of GH¢15 million following his first appearance before the court on October 7, 2025.
The court adjourned the case against Wontumi, granting the prosecution three weeks to file their disclosures.
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