Wontumi’s Counsel Fights for Bail Pending Appeal

Counsel for the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Samuel Atta Akyea, has disclosed that he will file an appeal against the conviction of his client, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, and immediately apply for bail pending the determination of the appeal.

The announcement was made during an appearance on the current affairs programme Newsfile, hosted by Samson Lardy Anyenini, last Saturday. The veteran lawyer outlined the next legal steps his team intends to pursue.

According to the former Abuakwa South Member of Parliament, preparations are far advanced for the filing of a formal notice of appeal, which he indicated would be lodged in the coming days. He added that he is convinced there are substantial legal grounds upon which the conviction can be challenged before the appellate court.

The lawyer further disclosed that immediately after filing the appeal, his team would seek bail pending appeal — a legal remedy available to convicted persons under certain circumstances while their appeals are being heard.

“We will do that. I am hoping that the judges should apply the law and then we could get him out and contest the appeal. The appeal is simply saying, look, if the appeal should succeed, that is it. I thought they would even consider the minimum, which is 15. The 20 years on Wontumi is too harsh,” he served notice.

In a related development, he accused the court of rushing politically sensitive criminal cases to favour one side, describing the approach as an “ambulance mode” reserved for politically exposed persons.

“Are the judges giving their energies to the criminal political cases, or to the rest of the cases that are not so, or to other criminal cases? They won’t give them the attention. So there is a good grounding for the position that it is as if the judges are in an ambulance mood to jail people,” he said.

He went further, describing what he saw as a troubling political dimension shaping the pace of these prosecutions, suggesting that pressure from the ruling government risked distorting the judicial process.

He added: “Justice hasn’t got a political term of four years, and when some people are saying that let’s run an ambulance justice delivery system, then we are saying that we are trying to please Jubilee House. That kind of frenzy in the NDC and in Jubilee House should not find expression in a court of competent jurisdiction.”

 

Background

The Accra High Court has sentenced Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, to 20 years’ imprisonment for his involvement in illegal mining activities on the Samreboi concession in the Western Region.

Wontumi was convicted in a case involving Akonta Mining Limited, where the prosecution argued that the company allowed illegal mining activities to take place on its concession without the required ministerial approval.