The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, is expected to spend the night in police custody after failing to meet a ₵25 million bail requirement in two separate criminal cases before the High Court’s Criminal Division in Accra.

Wontumi, who has also been placed on a stop list restricting him from travelling outside Ghana, faces multiple charges linked to illegal mining operations.

Prosecutors allege that his company caused extensive environmental damage, including the destruction of approximately 13 hectares of land within the Tano Nimire Forest Reserve.

The case forms part of a wider investigation in which Wontumi and several associates are accused of conducting mining activities without a valid licence, felling trees, and erecting unauthorised structures inside a protected forest area.

In a separate but related matter, the NPP regional chairman is also alleged to have illegally assigned mineral rights and facilitated unlicensed mining operations.

Chairman Wontumi has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence as the legal proceedings continue.