Court adjourns Wontumi’s GH¢30m Exim Bank case to November 2

The Accra High Court has adjourned the case involving former Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, over an alleged financial loss of more than GH¢30 million to the Ghana Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank), to November 2 and 3, 2026.

The adjournment is to allow the court and defence counsel time to review the prosecution’s disclosures.

The decision followed the court’s indication that it had not received copies of the disclosures, although the prosecution said the documents had been filed and served on the defence in two batches on October 23 and 26.

The Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, who led the prosecution on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, informed the court that the State had completed the filing and service of the documents.

However, defence counsel Samuel Atta Akyea told the court that he had obtained his copy from the court registry on October 27 and needed sufficient time to study the material before proceedings could continue.

Mr Atta Akyea said he intended to ask the court for more time to examine the documents, stressing that the liberty of the accused persons was at stake and that he needed to review the disclosures thoroughly.

Presiding judge Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul-Baasit subsequently adjourned the case to allow the court to receive the documents and give the defence adequate time to examine them.

The prosecution has not yet called its first witness in the Exim Bank case.

Background

Mr Antwi-Boasiako is standing trial alongside Thomas Antwi-Boasiako, who is currently at large, and Wontumi Farms Limited over an alleged financial loss exceeding GH¢30 million to Exim Bank.

According to the prosecution, the accused persons obtained GH¢14.302 million from the bank in 2018 through alleged false pretences in connection with a proposed farming project.

Mr Antwi-Boasiako faces five charges, including defrauding by false pretence, two counts of uttering forged documents, money laundering and intentionally causing financial loss to a public body.

The prosecution further alleges that documents submitted to secure funding for the project were forged or altered and that the proposed farming activities were never carried out.

Mr Antwi-Boasiako has pleaded not guilty to all five charges.