An Accra Circuit Court has remanded Chinese national Huang Ruixia alias Aisha Huang and three others for allegedly engaging in illegal mining in Ghana.
The accused persons were charged for engaging in sale and purchase of minerals without a licence.
The other three are Jong Li Hua; Huang Jei and Huiad Hiahu, all Chinese nationals.
Aisha Huang is facing an additional charge of engaging in mining without a licence.
She was arraigned last Friday [September 2, 2022] and her plea to the charges are yet to be taken by the court presided over by Bright Acquah since the court had no Chinese interpreter at the time.
Monday’s Proceedings
While the three other suspects were arraigned Monday, September 5, 2022, Aisha Huang was absent, reports Graphic Online’s Justice Agbenorsi who was in the courtroom.
They have all pleaded not guilty to the charge and have been remanded into custody to reappear on September 14, 2022.
Prosecution’s facts
According to the facts presented by the prosecutor, Detective Chief Inspector Frederick Sarpong, Aisha Huang had previously escaped prosecution in Accra when she was arrested.
According to the prosecutor, she returned to her country [China] and changed her identity only to come back to Ghana to commit the same crime of which she escaped prosecution earlier.
According to the prosecution, the suspect applied for a Togo visa and went through the borders into Ghana and back to the galamsey business in a town in the Ashanti Region.
The three others with her, according to the prosecutor, were selling mining equipment and dealing in gold without a valid licence in Accra.
They were arrested upon intelligence by National Security officials.
They are expected to re-appear before the court on September 14, 2022.
Background
Related: Aisha Huang and four other Chinese illegal miners deported
The Chinese illegal mining “queen,” was deported in December 2018.
That followed the filing of a nolle prosequi to discontinue the trial by state prosecutors.
Throwback: Galamsey: State no longer interested in Aisha Huang case
She had been charged with three counts of undertaking small-scale mining operations, contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703); providing mining support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission, and contrary to the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), and the illegal employment of foreign nationals, contrary to the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).
Source: Graphic Online
