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 expressed confidence that the Court of Appeal will closely examine what he described as the trial judge's interpretation of the law relating to mining assignments in his client's illegal mining conviction.

His comments come days after the Accra High Court sentenced Chairman Wontumi to 20 years' imprisonment following his conviction for illegal mining activities on the Samreboi concession in the Western Region.

Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, who presided over the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court, delivered the judgment shortly after 11:40 a.m. on Monday, July 20, concluding one of Ghana's most closely watched prosecutions relating to illegal mining.

In addition to the custodial sentence, the court imposed a fine of 10,000 penalty units, equivalent to GH¢120,000, with a default sentence of three years' imprisonment should the fine remain unpaid.

Speaking on JoyNews' Newsfile on Saturday, July 25, Mr Atta Akyea identified the court's treatment of the legal concept of assignment as one of the principal grounds upon which the defence intends to challenge the judgment.

According to him, the ownership and legal rights over the mining concession remained with Akonta Mining Limited despite the presence of workers operating on the concession.

"A worker on a concession hasn't gotten an assignment. The right to the concession still resides in the accused company, Akonta Mining," Mr Atta Akyea said.

He argued that the trial court's interpretation of what constitutes an assignment under Ghanaian law was flawed and should be reviewed by the appellate court.

"The treatment of assignment in law by the judge is one of the areas that we believe the Court of Appeal will take a look at," he stated.