The High Court in Accra has given the prosecution and the defence 30 days to conclude plea bargain negotiations in the GH¢30 million alleged fraud case involving the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi.
When the case was called on Monday, Samuel Atta Akyea formally announced his appearance as lead counsel for Chairman Wontumi, taking over from Andy Appiah-Kubi.
The court, presided over by Justice Halima El-Alawa Abdul Baasit, consequently adjourned the case to August 27, 2026, for further directions after both parties informed it that plea negotiations were at an advanced stage.
Mr Atta Akyea told the court that after discussions with the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, he was confident the parties could reach an agreement through plea bargaining.
"I have conferred with the Deputy Attorney-General and I humbly hold the view that we can do a reasonable plea bargaining in his chambers. In the circumstances, I pray the court to enlarge time to enable us undertake that exercise," he submitted.
He asked the court to adjourn the matter to October to give the parties sufficient time to conclude the negotiations.
Prosecution
Responding, Dr Srem-Sai said the prosecution agreed that additional time should be granted but proposed a 30-day adjournment instead of the approximately 90 days requested by the defence.
He explained that although Section 162(c)(5) of the law allowed plea bargaining to proceed concurrently with trial proceedings, the prosecution was prepared to waive that right because discussions were almost complete before they were interrupted.
"We have received an offer and we have made a counter-offer which we were supposed to conclude last week before the accused person's conviction in another matter derailed the negotiations," he told the court.
Chairman Wontumi was last week convicted and jailed for 20 years in another case involving illegal mining at Samreboi in the Western Region.
Dr Srem-Sai explained that last week's conviction prevented the prosecution from meeting the accused person and his counsel to conclude the discussions.
He further stated that the prosecution was yet to file its disclosures and believed delaying that process would prevent the disclosures from prejudicing the plea negotiations.
"We believe that the new counsel will pick up from where we left off with the previous counsel," he added.
Defence
Mr Atta Akyea agreed with the prosecution's reasoning but urged the court to grant a longer adjournment to enable the parties to conclude the negotiations.
"The reasoning of the honourable Deputy Attorney-General is sound and I am in agreement with him, save to say that we are pleading with you that we come back in term time (October) and that the charges have been withdrawn and we have come to terms. Two months from now should be favourable," he said.
Ruling
The court noted that the law envisaged plea bargaining proceeding alongside trial proceedings and indicated that it would continue to be guided by the relevant statutory provisions.
Background
Chairman Wontumi, who is now a serving convict, and two others are standing trial over an alleged GH¢30 million transaction involving the Ghana Export-Import (EXIM) Bank.
At the previous hearing, the court granted additional time for plea negotiations after both the prosecution and the defence informed it that discussions were progressing. However, the negotiations stalled following Chairman Wontumi's conviction in a separate illegal mining case before resuming after the appointment of new defence counsel.
