The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame has called for a new docket on En Huang, a.k.a. Aisha Huang, the Office of Attorney General has said.
According to the office, the new docket concerns offences Aisha Huang is suspected to have recently committed.
The Chronicle gathers that the A-G will “also re-initiate prosecution in respect of the old offences, for which she was standing trial before her deportation in 2018.”
Meanwhile, the decision of the AG to re-initiate the 2018 prosecution appears to deflate the strong stance of then Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, who argued the state would not benefit from the trial.
There had been concerns by Ghanaians in 2018 over why the state failed to prosecute the ‘Galamsey Queen’ who had gained notoriety in the country, but opted to deport her, though she was arrested and charged.
Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo, responding to questions about a town hall meeting the government delegation had in the United States, and cited diplomatic relations between Ghana and China.
He said “We have a very good relationship with China. The main company that is helping develop the infrastructure system in Ghana is Sinohydro, it is a Chinese company. It is the one that is going to help process our bauxite and provide about $2 billion to us.
“So, when there are these kinds of arrangements, there are other things behind the scenes. Putting [Aisha Huan] in jail in Ghana is not going to solve your money problem. It is not going to make you happy or me happy.
“That is not important… The most important thing is that she has been deported out of Ghana. There are many other things beyond what we see in these matters, and everybody is wide awake. The most important thing is that we have established regulations and we are protecting our environment. That is far more important than one Chinese woman who has been deported back to her country.”
FIRST CASE
Aisha Huang and four of her Chinese employees were arraigned before the court on May 9, 2017 for engaging in illegal small-scale mining at Bepotenten in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region.
She was 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, 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).
The other four accused persons were charged with disobedience of directives given by or under the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).
THE STATE ENDS THE CASE
The state, somewhere along the line discontinued the trial of “Aisha” Huang and the four other Chinese nationals, by filing a nolle prosequi, but did not give a reason for the discontinuation of the case.
Based on the application, the judge, who had previously complained about how the case was being delayed, discharged the five accused persons.
Aisha Huang and the four others were subsequently deported to China in what some Ghanaians said was a betrayal of the fight against galamsey, especially as the government vowed to deal with illegal miners whose actions had destroyed the country’s land and water bodies.
SECOND CASE
The Chronicle reported yesterday that the Chinese galamsey kingpin had returned to Ghana and was doing her usual business in the Ashanti Region. This time, however, she is operating under a new name, Huang Rei Ruixia.
The report, filed by our court reporter, who was in court, said Aisha Huang had been re-arrested by the National Security, in connection with a similar alleged crime that led to her expatriation to China, somewhere in 2018.
It was revealed that Aisha Huang allegedly sneaked into the country through neighbouring Togo. Thus, she changed the details of her Chinese passport and applied for a Togo visa in order to gain access to the country.
Intelligence led to her re-arrest at a small town in the Ashanti region, where she had resumed an illegal small-scale mining operation without a licence and further engaged in the purchase and sale of minerals in Accra without valid authority, as granted by the Minerals and Mining Act.
Aisha Huang, alias Huang Rei Ruixia, was arraigned before the Accra Circuit ‘9’, presided over by His Honour Samuel Bright Acquah, on Friday, September 2, 2022, under the following charges: engaging in the sales and purchases of minerals without a licence and mining without a license.
However, the court did not take her plea for the reason that there was no translator to interpret the charges to Aisha Huang in Chinese. The court has remanded her into lawful police custody to reappear on September 14, 2022.
