Chairman Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman currently serving a 20-year prison sentence following his conviction in a separate illegal mining case, was escorted from the Accra High Court under Ghana Prisons Service custody after Wednesday’s proceedings in the ongoing Tano Nimri Forest case.
His legal team requested additional time for lawyer Samuel Atta Akyea to formally take over the case from previous counsel Andy Appiah-Kubi and properly review the case file before proceedings continue.
The court granted the request, and the matter has been adjourned for continuation once the new counsel has fully familiarised himself with the record.
Chairman Wontumi and Akonta Mining Company Limited are separately charged in this case over alleged mining operations conducted without a licence within the Tano Nimri Forest Reserve in the Western Region.
It is one of several ongoing legal battles facing the embattled politician, alongside the high-profile EXIM Bank fraud case and the Samreboi illegal mining trial that recently resulted in his conviction and 20-year sentence.
The change in legal representation follows a broader reshuffle of Wontumi’s defence team in recent months, after Appiah-Kubi withdrew from several of his cases citing dissatisfaction with how the courts had handled proceedings, paving the way for Atta Akyea to step in as lead counsel.
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