Former Western Regional Minister Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, who served as Chairman of the Regional Safety Council throughout his tenure, has testified in help of the protection of Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly generally known as Chairman Wontumi, within the ongoing unlawful mining case involving Akonta Mining Restricted.
The witness offered in proof on Wednesday, Could 28, 2026, a video recording of the mining firm’s Samleboi concession, which he mentioned was taken throughout a website go to whereas he was chairman of the Regional Safety Council (REGSEC).
The video, saved on a pen drive, was admitted into proof by the Accra Excessive Courtroom after the court docket overruled the prosecution’s objections to its authenticity.
Showing in court docket, the defendant’s lawyer, Andy Appiah-Kubi, knowledgeable the court docket that the protection meant to name Mr. Darko-Mensah as the following witness.
Mr Appiakubi additionally indicated that two witness statements had been filed on Could 25 and Could 28, 2026 and prayed the court docket to convene a case administration convention (CMC) primarily based on these statements.
Chairman Wontumi and his firm are dealing with six prices for allegedly permitting Henry Okumu and Michael Gedu Aisi to hold out mining actions on the Akonta mining concession with out acquiring prior approval from the Minister of Lands and Pure Sources.
indictment
In court docket on Thursday, Senior State Legal professional Nana Ama Prempeh mentioned the prosecution had not been supplied with all witness statements.
She defined that she adopted up on the submissions earlier within the morning, however the protection had solely submitted one of many statements in court docket.
She mentioned a fast take a look at one of many witness statements revealed it belonged to a witness named Evans Addai, who had not beforehand been named among the many potential protection witnesses.
“Subsequently, please ask the lawyer to offer an inventory of all witnesses to any extent further in order that the CMC is just not carried out piecemeal,” she prayed in court docket.
The court docket mentioned one of many witness statements was filed an hour earlier than the proceedings and the court docket has not but acquired a replica of it.
Because of this, the court docket started implementing the CMC primarily based on Mr. Dalkomensah’s witness assertion filed on Could 25, 2026.
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The defendant’s lawyer additional knowledgeable the court docket that the video footage recorded on the pen drive was connected to the witness assertion.
He prayed the court docket to confess each the witness assertion and the pen drive for trial.
Nevertheless, prosecutors objected to admitting the pen drive, saying the video didn’t have time stamps to show when and the place it was recorded.
“We subsequently pray that this pen drive can be rejected,” Nana Ama Prempeh submitted.
In response, Mr Appiakubi maintained that the aim of taking part in the video was to substantiate its content material, including that the explanation for filming the video and the circumstances through which it was recorded had already been defined in paragraph 39 of the witness assertion.
He subsequently prayed to the court docket to confess it as related proof at trial.
The court docket dominated on the objection, holding that the considerations raised by the prosecution may very well be addressed throughout cross-examination.
“Having listened to each attorneys, it’s this court docket’s thought-about view that the considerations raised by the Republic’s attorneys might be resolved via cross-examination,” the court docket dominated.
The case was adjourned till June 1, 2026 at 2:00 p.m.
