Wontumi Exim Bank case adjourned after prosecution amends charge sheet
Principal State Attorney Joshua Sackey told the court on Tuesday, September 22, that the amended charge sheet had been filed and served on counsel for the accused persons.
The GH¢30 million Exim Bank case involving former Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has been adjourned to October 13, 2026.
The Accra High Court adjourned the matter after the prosecution filed a new charge sheet and asked to replace the earlier one filed on May 15, 2026.
Principal State Attorney Joshua Sackey told the court on Tuesday, September 22, that the amended charge sheet had been filed and served on counsel for the accused persons.
The amendment relates to the charge of uttering a forged document.
According to the new charge sheet, the allegedly forged document was a pro-forma invoice of EPSONS Ghana Limited.
The prosecution alleges that Mr Antwi-Boasiako used the said forged pro-forma invoice in 2017, knowing it was not genuine, with intent to defraud officials of Exim Bank and obtain GH¢4 million from the bank.
The amended charge sheet, dated September 19, 2026, retains the charge of uttering a forged document under Section 169 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, Act 29.
Because of the amendment, the court is expected to take the pleas of the accused persons afresh when the case resumes.
Counsel holding brief for Samuel Atta Akyea for the first and third accused persons, Nana Nti Ofori-Debrah, opposed the immediate substitution of the charge sheet and the taking of fresh pleas.
He told the court that he had only just received the new charge sheet and needed time to study it and bring it to the attention of substantive counsel.
“Indeed I have just received a copy of the new charge sheet. I am yet to peruse it and also show it to the substantive counsel,” he said.
He therefore prayed the court to defer both the substitution and the taking of pleas to the next adjourned date.
The court subsequently adjourned the case to October 13, 2026, at 10:30 a.m.
Mr Antwi-Boasiako is standing trial together with Thomas Antwi-Boasiako and Wontumi Farms Limited.
They are facing charges linked to an alleged financial loss to Exim Bank.
The five-count charge sheet includes defrauding by false pretence, two counts of uttering a forged document, money laundering and intentionally causing financial loss to a public body.
The prosecution alleges that Mr Antwi-Boasiako and Thomas Antwi-Boasiako obtained about GH¢14.302 million from Exim Bank in 2018 by false pretences.
It further alleges that the accused persons caused the bank to lose GH¢30 million between 2018 and 2022.
