Andy Appiah-Kubi, a Private legal practitioner who represented the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, during the Samreboi illegal mining case, has revealed his client knew he would be convicted.
According to Lawyer Appiah-Kubi, Wontumi had prior information and informed him of the expected outcome of the case before the judgment was read.
Appiah-Kubi, in a JoyNews publication, was quoted as having said, “Chairman Wontumi had prior information that he would be convicted. He told me the content of the judgment. He told me that he would be jailed for twenty years”.
Lawyer Appiah-Kubi, however, maintained that the court’s decision was flawed, arguing that evidence presented during the trial did not support the court’s conclusion.
He stated, “The evidence on the ground does not support the judgment. Per the company law, the company is different from the owner or shareholder”.
“This will form the basis of our appeal”, he added.
Meanwhile, Samuel Atta Akyea, Lead Counsel for NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has disclosed that they have put together not less than twenty grounds of appeal to overturn his client 20 year sentencing.
In a news card shared by JOYFM, Lawyer Samuel Atta Akyea was quoted as saying, “We have assembled not less than twenty grounds of appeal to overturn Wontumi’s sentence”.
In related news, Samuel Atta Akyea, speaking in an interview with Channel One Newsroom on Tuesday, July 21, disclosed that Wontumi’s legal team will file a notice of appeal against his client’s conviction and sentencing next week.
Wontumi’s Lawyer argued that there are several legal grounds to challenge the High Court’s decision.
He highlighted constitutional issues, the treatment of prosecution witnesses, and the court’s interpretation of the alleged assignment of mineral rights.
Atta Akyea also welcomed indications that the NPP legal team intends to collaborate with him in pursuing the appeal.
Samuel Atta Akyea stated, “We’ve already put together our grounds of appeal, and it’s under consideration. Immediately the conclave agrees that what we have put together is very sound, we shouldn’t waste time. I’m tempted to believe that, at the latest by next week, we should file a notice of appeal”.
“What I’ve heard, which I will not subvert, is a hard fact that the NPP legal team wants to have a collaboration with me, which I will not resent. For one simple reason that when you have a congregation of lawyers, the quality or the output is always good,” he said.
However, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, has disclosed that there is no proper basis for an appeal against Chairman Wontumi’s conviction and 20-year sentence.
According to the Deputy Attorney-General, he does not think any appeal against Wontumi’s conviction and 20-year sentence will succeed.
Speaking in an interview on TV3, Justice Srem Sai stated, “We don’t think there is any proper basis for anyone to appeal this decision. I don’t think any appeal will succeed against this case”.
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