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Thomas Antwi Boasiako, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has been charged in connection with an alleged GH¢14.3 million fraud and money laundering case involving Wontumi Farms Limited and the Ghana Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank).
According to court documents filed at the High Court in Accra, Chairman Wontumi, who is also known as Thomas Antwi Boasiako, alongside Wontumi Farms Limited, is facing four criminal charges.
The charges include alleged defrauding by false pretence, money laundering, uttering forged documents, and intentionally causing financial loss to a public institution.
Prosecutors claim the company secured the funds in 2018 under the pretext of establishing a large-scale farming project. Investigators, however, allege that the project was never executed despite the release of millions of cedis from the loan facility.
Court filings indicate that Wontumi Farms Limited initially applied for a GH¢19 million loan from Exim Bank and presented documents claiming the company had acquired a 100,000-acre parcel of land for agricultural purposes.
Investigators later discovered alleged inconsistencies in some of the submitted documents.
Prosecutors say a number of the records, including a board resolution and portions of the project proposal, appeared to have been dated before the official registration of the company.
Although Exim Bank reportedly approved a facility amounting to GH¢18.7 million, court records state that approximately GH¢14.3 million was eventually disbursed to the company.
The prosecution alleges that contrary to the intended purpose of the loan, no farming activities were carried out, no land was acquired, and no agricultural machinery was purchased.
Authorities further claim that Chairman Wontumi later presented documents said to be proof of payment for agricultural equipment valued at GH¢4 million.
Investigators argue that the document in question was originally a pro-forma invoice which had allegedly been altered before being submitted as evidence of a completed transaction.
Prosecutors believe the document was subsequently used to secure additional disbursements from the facility.
Under the money laundering charge, prosecutors allege that between 2018 and 2022, Chairman Wontumi knowingly received portions of the GH¢14.302 million despite allegedly being aware that the funds had been fraudulently obtained.
The prosecution also claims that the transaction caused financial loss exceeding GH¢30 million to Exim Bank.
Authorities allege that a substantial portion of the funds was diverted into personal expenses and unrelated business ventures instead of the proposed farming project.
According to the Attorney-General’s Department, investigations into the matter began in March 2025. Chairman Wontumi reportedly appeared before court on May 14, 2026, with proceedings expected to continue at the High Court in Accra.
