‘Go to the source’ - Dr Srem-Sai explains prosecution strategy in Wontumi case

Deputy Attorney General Dr Justice Srem-Sai says the state’s approach to illegal mining focuses on those who finance and facilitate the activity rather than only those working at mining sites.

Speaking on TV3’s New Day, on july 22, 2026, he said the policy recognises that illegal mining operations depend on influential individuals who secure concessions and allow others to operate on them.

“Those on the ground are breaching the law, but they couldn’t successfully do what they are doing without some big, rich, influential kingpins behind it,” he said.

“You’ll be wasting your time clearing the guys on the ground because new ones will come. Why won’t you go to the source?” he asked.

Dr Srem-Sai said investigations had identified what he described as a common business model in which concession holders without the capital to undertake mining open their concessions to illegal miners in return for payment.

“You get a concession, and because you don’t have the capital, the easiest way is to open the concession up to illegal miners and take rent from them. That is the business model,” he said.

He argued that financing or facilitating illegal mining should not be viewed as less serious than carrying out the mining itself.

“It’s a whole chain of production, from financing to forming companies. The fact that you are not the one digging doesn’t mean you are not part of the illegal mining,” he said.