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By Patrick Biddah
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), Ing. Kwadwo Twum Boafo, has dismissed assertions by the embattled Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi Boasiako (alias Chairman Wontumi), that his legal battle with the state is a deliberate act of persecution orchestrated by President John Dramani Mahama.
Speaking on GHOne’s Morning Show, Ing. Twum Boafo, rejected the allegations against President Mahama, explaining that the president had issued no such directive.
He maintained that the state has not overstepped its boundaries in its prosecution of Chairman Wontumi and that every step has been taken in accordance with the country’s laws.
He explained the rationale behind the state’s decision to freeze accounts linked to Chairman Wontumi and Akonta Mining, noting that the FIC’s action forms part of a process to preserve the integrity of the evidence.
“We freeze accounts, because we don’t want suspected perpetrators to access them and remove evidence. The state is not allowed to freeze accounts without showing a judge that there is cause and evidence to do so. The term ‘freeze’ should tell you that it is held in abeyance pending the investigation. We unfreeze many accounts that we initially froze on suspicion.
“We are not witch-hunting, Chairman Wontumi. The Attorney-General has charged him with offences related to the activities of Akonta Mining. If you don’t pay taxes, you are—by the definition of money laundering—engaging in money laundering,” he said.
Ing. Twum Boafo also dismissed Chairman Wontumi’s claims that the freezing of his accounts has caused undue hardship to his family, insisting that a man who openly flaunts gold bars on live television should not make such statements.
“When somebody says that my account is frozen and I cannot feed my children, it’s absurd—especially when that person is able to display gold bars on television. Where are the proceeds from those gold bars? We have to do our work and protect the country from money laundering, and that is what we do. We do it fairly, with a fine-tooth comb, and the investigations are conducted by a team to determine the best way forward,” he said.
Chairman Wontumi is standing trial for allegedly permitting two individuals to undertake mining operations on his company’s concession without obtaining approval from the authorities.
He and his accomplices have been charged with two counts of assigning mineral rights without approval and two counts of purposely facilitating an unlicensed mining operation at Samreboi in the Western Region.
The post No witch-hunt – Ing. Kwadwo Twum Boafo rubbishes Wontumi’s claim against President Mahama appeared first on The Herald ghana.
