The NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi, has denied allegations that he authorised prosecution witness Henry Okum to undertake mining activities on Akonta Mining's concession.

He insisted that the arrangement between them was solely for land reclamation and coconut cultivation.

Appearing before the High Court in Accra on Thursday, May 21, Wontumi told the court that PW2 had only been granted access to reclaim degraded portions of the concession by planting coconut trees.

He rejected claims that he had assigned mineral rights or knowingly facilitated illegal mining on the site.

“I didn’t give him permission to mine,” he stated during cross-examination by Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Justice Srem Sai.

“He came to reclaim the land and plant coconut trees so that when the coconuts mature, we would share.”

Wontumi, who has opened his defence after the prosecution closed its case, also denied assisting PW2 to acquire excavators or other earth-moving equipment.

“That is not true. I do not know what work he did. He only planted trees and carried out reclamation. I did not assist him in purchasing any earth-moving equipment,” he told the court.

However, the prosecution argued that he knowingly allowed mining activities on the concession and intentionally distanced himself from the site to avoid direct links to the operations.

The prosecution further alleged that his business model involved granting access to concessions for illegal mining in exchange for a share of the proceeds, a claim he dismissed as “a blatant falsehood”.

Earlier in the proceedings, the presiding judge, Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, ruled that Wontumi had a case to answer, citing both PW2’s testimony and Wontumi’s caution statement to police.

According to the ruling, PW2 claimed he had been allowed to mine portions of the concession and use proceeds from the activity to finance reclamation works.

The judge noted that Wontumi had admitted permitting PW2 onto the concession “only to plant coconut trees to reclaim the mined portion of the concession”.

During Thursday’s hearing, Wontumi also acknowledged that there was no written agreement documenting the reclamation arrangement and admitted he never visited the site after granting PW2 access, although he claimed videos of the reclamation works and approximately 18,000 planted coconut trees had been sent to him.