The Office of the Attorney General has opposed an application seeking to postpone judgment in the criminal trial of Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, over alleged illegal mining activities at Samreboi.
The application was filed by lawyer Samuel Atta Akyea, who recently assumed legal representation for Chairman Wontumi. He is seeking additional time before judgment is delivered. However, the Attorney General’s Office has urged the court to dismiss the request and allow the case to proceed without further delay.
According to the prosecution, a 13-paragraph affidavit in opposition was filed on Thursday, June 25, by Senior State Attorney Nana Ama Prempeh.
The Attorney General argues that the application lacks merit because the accused was represented by legal counsel throughout the trial and that the withdrawal of his previous lawyer was voluntary, not the result of any circumstance beyond counsel’s control.
The prosecution maintains that, under such circumstances, it is the responsibility of incoming counsel to obtain the relevant case records, briefs and other materials from the outgoing lawyer rather than requesting them from the court registry.
“In a 13-paragraph affidavit in opposition deposed to by Nana Ama Prempeh, a Senior State Attorney, and filed this afternoon, the Attorney General strongly argues that the accused person, having been represented by counsel throughout the trial and counsel only withdrawing voluntarily and not for cause, the proper source for a new lawyer to procure the records of and any brief or briefing on the case is the outgoing counsel and not the Court’s Registry,” the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) Secretariat said in a Facebook post.
The prosecution further contends that Mr Atta Akyea’s decision to seek the case records directly from the court registry, rather than obtaining them from his client’s former lawyer, was not made in good faith.
On that basis, the Attorney General has asked the court to dismiss the application and proceed to deliver judgment in the case.
Chairman Wontumi is standing trial over allegations of illegal mining activities at Samreboi. The case has attracted significant public attention due to his prominent role within the opposition NPP and the government’s ongoing efforts to prosecute offences related to illegal mining.
