Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, the former Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, has denied five charges in the GH¢30 million case brought against him over dealings with the Ghana Export-Import Bank, Graphic Online reports.
Appearing before the Accra High Court on Monday, October 12, he pleaded not guilty to defrauding by false pretence, two counts of uttering a forged document, money laundering and intentionally causing financial loss to a public body, according to Graphic Online. The pleas were taken after the court, presided over by Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul-Baasit, allowed prosecutors to replace the charge sheet filed on May 15, 2026 with an amended one filed on September 22, 2026.
Mr Antwi-Boasiako, widely known as Chairman Wontumi, is on trial with Thomas Antwi-Boasiako, reported to be at large, and Wontumi Farms Limited. Graphic Online reports that he was sent back to Nsawam Maximum Security Prison after the hearing, where he is serving a 20-year sentence handed down by a differently constituted High Court in Accra.
Why it matters
The case sits at the intersection of Ghanaian party politics and the state's efforts to hold public institutions and their borrowers to account. Mr Antwi-Boasiako is a well-known figure in the governing New Patriotic Party, and the sums involved — more than GH¢30 million in alleged losses to a state-backed lender — make it one of the larger financial crime prosecutions currently before the courts.
The decision by the prosecution to amend its charge sheet also matters for how the trial will proceed. A revised charge sheet can sharpen the allegations, narrow the disputed facts or correct defects that defence lawyers might otherwise exploit. Here, the amendment names the company said to have issued a pro-forma invoice at the centre of one count, a detail that could shape how the defence responds.
What prosecutors allege
The prosecution is led by Principal State Attorney Joshua Sackey. According to Graphic Online, he told the court that a new charge sheet had been filed and asked for the earlier one to be withdrawn and substituted. Defence counsel Samuel Atta Akyea did not oppose the application.
The amended charge sheet specifies that the pro-forma invoice allegedly used to obtain GH¢4 million from Exim Bank was issued by EPSONS GHANA LIMITED. Prosecutors say the document was deployed with the intention of defrauding officials of the bank.
The state's case, as set out in court, is that Mr Antwi-Boasiako presented forged and altered documents to Exim Bank in January 2018 to secure funding for a proposed farming project. Prosecutors allege that the accused did not carry out the farming activities, did not buy agricultural plant and machinery, and did not hire workers for the farm. They further allege that the accused neither owned nor secured the parcel of land they had presented to the bank as available for the project.
The prosecution also contends that Mr Antwi-Boasiako withdrew substantial sums from the accounts of Wontumi Farms Limited, the third accused, and applied the money to personal uses, including investments in other businesses. Graphic Online reports that the state alleges Mr Antwi-Boasiako and Thomas Antwi-Boasiako obtained GH¢14.302 million from the bank in 2018 through false pretences. The case also concerns an allegedly forged document tied to the purchase of agricultural machinery, alongside the money laundering and financial loss allegations.
Defence argues the dispute is civil
After the pleas were entered, Mr Atta Akyea asked the court to grant his client bail, arguing that the matter is civil in nature rather than criminal. He also pointed the court to the fact that the Economic and Organised Crime Office had previously released his client on bail, according to Graphic Online.
That characterisation — a commercial dispute dressed up as a criminal case — has been a recurring theme for the defence. Modern Ghana reports that Mr Atta Akyea has said plea-bargaining talks with the state broke down because the terms offered were not favourable. Separately, 3News reports that the defence told the High Court the Exim Bank matter is civil, not criminal.
The court did not rule on the bail application in the account carried by Graphic Online. It adjourned the case to October 27, 2026 for the start of a Case Management Conference.
What to watch
The October 27 Case Management Conference will set the timetable for the trial — the schedule for disclosures, preliminary objections and the eventual hearing of evidence. The bail question, and any renewed attempt to have the charges treated as a civil dispute, are likely to resurface at that stage.
