Summary of convictions and sentences imposed in the Samreboi mining case
By DL News
Published
Updated
2 min read
Akonta Mining Company Ltd was separately convicted on Counts 3 and 6. The company was fined 15,000 penalty units on each count, bringing its total financial penalty to 30,000 penalty units.
The High Court in Accra has sentenced businessman Bernard Antwi Bosiako, popularly known as Wontumi, to an effective 20-year prison term in hard labour after convicting him of unlawfully assigning mineral rights and facilitating an unlicensed mining operation.
Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay imposed separate 20-year sentences on Wontumi for the two offences but ordered that the terms should run concurrently.
This means he will serve a maximum immediate custodial term of 20 years under the order delivered on Monday, 20 July 2026.
In addition to the prison terms, the court fined Wontumi 10,000 penalty units on each count. He faces three years in hard labour on each count if the respective fines are not paid.
The court found that Wontumi permitted other persons to undertake mining activities on unmined portions of a concession belonging to Akonta Mining Company Ltd without the required ministerial approval. It rejected the position that the activities were limited to land reclamation.
According to the judgment, Wontumi was the true and de facto holder of the mineral right and the directing mind behind Akonta Mining. The court consequently lifted the company’s corporate veil and held him personally responsible for the activities carried out on the concession.
On the charge of purposely facilitating an unlicensed mining operation, the court found that Wontumi allowed the operators onto the concession, connected one of them to a supplier of excavators and enlisted the Western Regional Security Council to provide protection for their activities.
Akonta Mining Company Ltd was separately convicted on Counts 3 and 6. The company was fined 15,000 penalty units on each count, bringing its total financial penalty to 30,000 penalty units. The description of the offence under Count 6 is not contained in the pages included in the supplied court record.
Before passing sentence, the court considered submissions that Wontumi and the company were first-time offenders. His lawyers and friends of the court also pleaded for leniency, pointing to his family responsibilities, business interests, employment of several people and conduct throughout the trial.
The court, however, emphasised the seriousness of the offences and the need to deter illegal mining. It said unlawful exploitation of the country’s mineral resources undermined the regulatory framework governing the mining sector and contributed to environmental degradation.
All items retrieved from Akonta Mining’s concession were also forfeited to the State under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, as amended by the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2019.
The second accused person, Kwame Antwi, was recorded as being at large, and no sentence was imposed on him in the portions of the judgment provided.
Read the full judgment below.
