Those who concealed Akonta Mining docket are equally guilty – Professor Azar

Renowned Law Professor, Stephen Kwaku Asare, widely known as Kwaku Azar, has issued a series of recommendations to the Attorney General (AG) regarding the ongoing criminal charges filed against NPP Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi) and Akonta Mining Company Limited.

In a detailed Facebook post on October 7, 2025, Professor Azar acknowledged the AG's action of filing six criminal charges on October 6, 2025, against Wontumi, Akonta Mining, and director Kwame Antwi; who is currently at large.

These charges relate to alleged illegal mining activities that occurred in 2024 at Samreboi in the Western Region.

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However, Professor Azar, has emphasised that the new case involving the same owner and company cannot be separated from the controversial 2022 Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve incident, the investigation docket for which "mysteriously went missing."

He argued that if the fight against illegal mining “galamsey” is to be taken seriously, the disappearance of the earlier docket must be thoroughly investigated.

"Those who hid or delayed the 2022 docket are as complicit as those who mined without a licence," Professor Azar stated.

A missing docket is justice stolen – Kwaku Azar on Akonta mining case

The law professor urged the Attorney General to undertake a full-scale probe into the matter by addressing these critical, unanswered questions:

• What became of the 2022 Tano Nimiri investigation docket?

• Was the docket ever forwarded to the AG, and if so, what was the disposition?

• Why has the docket resurfaced, and what prosecution decisions have been made on it?

Professor Azar’s three key recommendations to the AG are:

1. Launch an independent probe into how and why the 2022 docket vanished.

2. Identify and sanction anyone who suppressed or tampered with evidence.

3. Clarify whether the new 2025 charges draw on any part of that earlier investigation.

Professor Azar added that the probe is essential "not to settle scores, but to clear the air, vindicate the innocent, vilify the guilty, and excavate the truth buried beneath politics."

Read the Facebook post below:



MRA/VPO

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