Atta Akyea: Attorney-General’s Position Strengthens Wontumi’s No-Case Submission

Samuel Atta Akyea, lead counsel for the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has argued that comments attributed to the Attorney-General suggest that the trial judge should have upheld the defence’s submission of no case.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, July 25, Mr Atta Akyea maintained that the prosecution failed to present sufficiently strong evidence against his client to justify the conviction handed down by the Accra High Court.

He argued that the Attorney-General’s position raises questions about the evidence upon which Chairman Wontumi was convicted.

“What is even more serious is that the Attorney-General is now conceding that the judge should have upheld the submission of no case,” Mr Atta Akyea said.

A submission of no case is a legal argument made by the defence at the close of the prosecution’s case, asking the court to acquit the accused on the grounds that the evidence presented does not establish a case requiring the accused person to respond.

Mr Atta Akyea questioned the basis of the conviction, asking what evidence directly linked his client to the alleged offences.

“Because he is saying that now Wontumi is being convicted on the evidence of who?” he asked.

The lawyer further contended that the prosecution did not produce evidence that was independently strong enough to sustain a conviction.

“There is no evidence that the Attorney-General produced which is strong in itself, more so when you’ve brought in accomplices,” he stated.

Mr Atta Akyea suggested that reliance on the evidence of accomplices required careful scrutiny and argued that such evidence, in his view, could not independently support a conviction without sufficient corroboration.

Chairman Wontumi was sentenced by the Accra High Court to 20 years’ imprisonment over illegal mining activities on the Samreboi concession in the Western Region.

Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, who presided over the Criminal Division of the High Court, delivered the sentence shortly after 11:40 a.m. on Monday, July 20, 2026, following one of Ghana’s most closely watched illegal mining prosecutions.

The court also imposed a fine of 10,000 penalty units, equivalent to GH¢120,000, with a default sentence of three years’ imprisonment if the fine is not paid.