Wontumi Investigation Completed, Expect Charges Soon—Attorney General

The Attorney General, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, has announced that investigations into alleged crimes committed by the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been completed.

In a press conference held on Monday, July 28, 2025, Ayine, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga East, said the next steps to be taken in the Wontumi investigations would be announced in due time.

“The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has completed investigations in respect of Chairman Wontumi and the former National Buffer Stock Company CEO, Mr Abdul Wahab Hanan, and their accomplices,” he said. “The results of both investigations will be announced very soon. The Police CID has also completed a docket on the Akonta Mining case and submitted the same to my office.”

He added that the charges have been prepared and the police would arraign the suspects in the coming days.

“We have prepared charges and sent them back to the Police CID for the suspects to be formally charged before their arraignment in court in the coming days. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, my fellow countrymen and women, in conclusion,” he said.

The senior NPP official faces accusations of mining without a license, polluting water bodies, and entering a forest reserve without permission.

As part of the investigations, Wontumi was detained by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for six days after failing to meet the terms of his Ghc 50 million bail.

According to Deputy Attorney General Justice Srem Sai, Wontumi is likely to face additional charges of fraud, causing financial loss to the state and money laundering.

Analysis of Attorney General’s announcement of pending charges against Wontumi

The announcement by the Attorney General that Wontumi, one of the NPP’s most powerful politicians, would face charges is set to ignite a political firestorm.

The NPP is likely to push back heavily against the impending charges and frame them as a political witch hunt.

For us, if a case can be proven in court against Wontumi, then he definitely deserves to face punishment.

Illegal mining has been a problem that exploded in recent years under NPP and Wontumi has been fingered as a big part of that. The damage caused to the country is irreversible and we’re not going to shed any tears for anyone implicated in that.