Chairman Wontumi in court over GH¢30m fraud, prosecution says Exim Bank farm loan was a ‘scam from the start.’
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, known as Chairman Wontumi, has been charged at the High Court alongside Thomas Antwi-Boasiako, a Director of Wontumi Farms Limited, over allegations of defrauding the Ghana Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank) through false pretence, forgery, money laundering, and causing financial loss of more than GH¢30 million. The prosecution alleges that the two used forged documents, including an altered “receipt,” to obtain GH¢14,302,000, out of an approved GH¢18.7 million facility granted in 2018, after allegedly misrepresenting land acquisition, employment projections, and procurement of farm equipment for Wontumi Farms Limited. It further claims that no farming project was undertaken, no machinery was purchased, and funds were diverted for personal use and other investments. Chairman Wontumi, who pleaded not guilty to four counts, has been granted bail, while his co-accused is reportedly on the run, and the case is being heard at the High Court presided over by Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul-Baasit.
