NPP Chairman Tells Court —This Is Business Debt, Not Fraud – Let Bank Take My Farm If I Owe

Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has reported EOCO to court.

Wontumi and his company, Wontumi Farms, have gone to the High Court in Accra to challenge his criminal prosecution over a loan he took from Ghana Exim Bank.

According to Wontumi’s lawyers, the whole case is about a loan for a farming project and it is a civil matter, not a criminal case.

EOCO and the Attorney General are trying to prosecute him for fraud and money laundering, claiming the loan has caused a loss of about GH¢30 million to the state bank. But Wontumi says that is not true.

His lawyers argue that he did not take the loan through deception and he did not commit any crime. They say it is just a normal business debt – the bank gave a loan, and there is disagreement over repayment.

Because of that, Wontumi is asking the court to do three things:

Declare that the matter is a civil debt dispute, not a criminal case.

Stop the criminal case and send it to the civil court.

Order Ghana Exim Bank to recover the money the right way – by selling the farm mortgage he gave them, or using his personal guarantee, or using the insurance cover the bank itself took for the loan.

In the suit, Wontumi named three defendants – Ghana Exim Bank, EOCO, and the Attorney General.

He says if he really owes, the bank knows what to do to get its money. They should not use EOCO to turn a business loan into a criminal case to disgrace him.

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