Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Haruna Mohammed, has defended Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako over charges linked to an Exim Bank loan facility, arguing that any alleged irregularities should be blamed on the bank rather than the beneficiary.
Speaking on Channel One Newsroom on Sunday, May 17, Haruna Mohammed accused Attorney General Dominic Ayineof attempting to criminalise political opponents before the issues are fully tested in court.
According to him, Chairman Wontumi followed the required procedures in obtaining the loan, insisting the case is politically motivated and designed to unfairly target the NPP stalwart.
“The Ashanti Regional Chairman did not pick a cutlass and go to the bank to take the loan. He went through due process. If there was anything wrong with how the loan was granted, then the responsibility should lie with the bank and not him. In this circumstance, it is clear that he is being targeted,” he stated.
Chairman Wontumi, together with Thomas Antwi Boasiako, who is currently at large, and Wontumi Farms Limited, has been formally charged over an alleged multi-million cedi fraud and money laundering scheme linked to a loan facility from Exim Bank Ghana.
Court documents filed at the High Court in Accra indicate that the accused persons are facing four charges, including defrauding by false pretence, uttering forged documents, money laundering, and intentionally causing financial loss to a public institution.
Prosecutors allege that in 2018, the accused secured about GH¢14.3 million from Exim Bank under the pretext of establishing a large-scale farming project. The charge sheet, dated May 15, 2026, further claims that Wontumi Farms Limited applied for a GH¢19 million loan facility using documents said to show the company had acquired a 100,000-acre parcel of land for the agricultural venture.
