The government has rejected a plea-bargaining proposal submitted by lawyers for NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, in connection with criminal charges arising from a loan facility obtained from the Ghana EXIM Bank.
Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Justice Srem Sai, said the proposal was considered inadequate and did not sufficiently address the concerns of the state.
According to him, although the prosecution and defence had entered into discussions under the plea-bargaining process, the Attorney-General’s Office had effectively decided to reject the offer.
Speaking in an interview with TV3 Ghana, Justice Srem Sai said the prosecution was only waiting for a formal meeting with the defence team to communicate the decision.
“They made a plea proposal of what they want to offer. In our opinion, we are not satisfied, and so we intend to reject it. In fact, we’ve in our minds rejected it, just that we’ve not had a meeting with them to inform them of our rejection,” he said.
The Deputy Attorney-General declined to disclose the specific terms of the proposal, stressing that plea-bargaining negotiations are confidential until an agreement is reached.
He, however, confirmed that the defence had offered to pay a certain amount as part of the proposed arrangement.
Justice Srem Sai said the amount offered did not meet the expectations of the state, resulting in the decision to reject the proposal in its current form.
“They offered to pay some amount. It’s enough that we are still bargaining. Because plea bargaining is not supposed to be out there. When we finish, we’ll announce the conclusion, but they made an offer,” he said.
He added that the public could be informed that the offer had been assessed and found to be inadequate.
The government is expected to formally communicate its rejection to the defence during a meeting between the two sides.
The development means that negotiations under the plea-bargaining process have not yet produced an agreement, with the state maintaining that any proposed resolution must adequately address the issues arising from the EXIM Bank-related criminal case.
