Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi) is Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP

The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, is expected to report at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service on Monday, May 26, 2025.

This follows a raid by officials of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) at Chairman Wontumi’s residence in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region on Friday, May 23, 2025.

It is not clear why the security officials raided Wontumi’s home on Friday, but the government recently suspended the mining licence of his company, Akonta Mining, accusing it of engaging in illegal mining activities in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve in the Western Region.

Chairman Wontumi has refuted the accusation, stating that he is being targeted because of his bid to run for the National Chairmanship position of the NPP.

However, a news report by the Accra-based ChannelOne TV has claimed that the security raid was over a GH¢50 million payment by the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) in the last days of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.

The report indicated that the payment was made to Hallmark Civil Engineering, a company owned by Wontumi, after the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, had barred contract payments during the transition period.

“We are being told that this payment was done in the dying days of the NPP during the transition to the NDC, and at that time, the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, had issued a warning to state agencies to stop all payments,” ChannelOne TV’s Charles Owusu Kumi said.

BAI/MA

Watch the latest edition of BizTech below: