Bernard Antwi Boasiako aka Wontumi
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has pleaded not guilty to charges of allegedly causing GH¢30 million financial loss to a public body in the course of a business transaction with Ghana Export-Import Bank (Ghana EXIM Bank).
Wontumi, who is already standing trial in two different courts over mining related offences, is accused of obtaining GH¢14,302,000 from the bank under false pretences.
He is further accused of using a forged receipt, knowing that the same is not genuine, to obtain about GH¢4,000,000 from the bank in 2018.
Charged alongside him are Thomas Antwi-Boasiako, who is on the run, and his company, Wontumi Farms Limited.
He was granted bail by the court, presided over by Justice Halima Abdul El-Lawal Basit. The prosecution was ordered to file disclosures for case management on June 18.
Court documents indicate that sometime in January 2018, Wontumi approached the Ghana EXIM Bank for a grant of GH¢19 million facility to embark on a farming venture.
Wontumi is said to have declared in the grant application that a parcel of land – 100,000 acres in size – has been secured for the project.
Accompanying the grant application letter was a letter titled ‘Board Resolution Letter’ and dated January 23, 2018, signed by Thomas Antwi-Boasiako stating that the grant application was authorised by the company’s board of directors through a resolution passed on December 9, 2017.
The prosecution alleges that the document predated the incorporation of the company by four clear days.
The second document is a ‘Proposed Project for Wontumi Farms’ in which the accused persons allegedly represented to the bank that just about 6,000 acres of the farm project is estimated to employ about 6,000 families of about 38,000 individuals.
The brief fact notes that on January 16, 2018, the bank made a mixture of loan and grant facility offer of GH¢18,734,260 facility.
The brief fact notes that money was to be spent on the purchase of agricultural plant and machinery, working capital and a grant for staff and labour cost, and consultancy fees.
The Attorney General alleges that the bank had disbursed a total of GH¢14,302,000 to Wontumi Farms Limited, but the accused persons did not undertake the proposed farming activity.
“They bought no agricultural plant and machinery. They employed no one to work on the farm. They did not own or secure the parcel of land which they represented to the Bank as a parcel of land secured for the proposed farm,” court documents allege.
The documents further allege that in March 2018, Wontumi presented a receipt to the bank claiming they had purchased GH¢4 million worth of agricultural plant and machinery for the farm.
“The Bank relied on the document to advance more funds to A3 (Wontumi Farms Limited) for the farm project,” it added.
The brief fact further alleges that the said receipt was originally a pro-forma invoice issued by KAS-SAMA Enterprise to Wontumi when he made price inquiries.
“Investigation has established that the inscription ‘Pro-forma Invoice’ on the document was altered and replaced with ‘Receipt’,” the fact disclosed.
It added that Wontumi withdrew huge sums of the funds from his company’s bank accounts and spent the same for his personal use, including investing such sums in other business enterprises.
“All efforts by the Bank to recover the monies from the Accused Persons landed on rocks,” court documents added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak