Aisha Huang
One of the investigators in the trial of galamsey kingpin, En Huang aka Aisha Huang, yesterday told an Accra High Court that the Chinese lady had no permit to mine or undertake any mining support services in Ghana.
According to ASP Charles Adaba (Rtd), the Office of the Attorney General in 2017, as part of investigations wrote to the Minerals Commission to ascertain whether the accused person had been granted a permit or licence to undertake mining operations or offer mine support service.
“The response from the Minerals Commission established that the accused person’s company did not have any licence or authorisation from the Minerals Commission to undertake any small-scale mining operation or to even render mine support service to any person or group,” the retired officer told the court yesterday.
Led in his evidence-in-chief by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, he narrated his investigations into the illegal mining activities of Aisha Huang and four other Chinese nationals; Qi Jin, Gao Jin Cheng, Habin Gao and Zhang Zhipeng at Bepotenten in the Ashanti Region.
He said the accused persons were initially arrested by officers of Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and investigations into her immigration offences had already commenced, and he was tasked to conduct investigations into the mining aspect of the case.
He said the accused persons were sent to the Nsawam Medium Security Prison and he went there to interrogate them on the allegations levelled against them.
He said Aisha Huang during the interrogation claimed that she was married to a Ghanaian named Fabian Anthony domiciled in the United States of America.
“She further said that her husband owns a supermarket in Kumasi called Golden Asia Company Limited, and that her nickname Aisha was derived from the locals who patronised the shop and are unable to pronounce the name Asia properly,” the witness said.
ASP Adaba (Rtd) told the court that Aisha Huang also indicated that Golden Asia Limited owns six XCMA excavators, and when the excavators break down, she brings in engineers from China with spare parts to repair them.
She indicated that she contacted the other arrested Chinese nationals to repair her machines at Bepotenten and further stated that on May 5, 2017, she had information that her workers she sent to repair the machines had been arrested.
He said she however, declined to give a written statement without a counsel, but the other accused persons all gave written statements when he interrogated them.
ASP Adaba (Rtd) said on June 8, 2017, he extended his investigations to Bepotenten and discovered that the accused person had taken over lands belonging to some farmers to use for her illegal mining business at Bepotenten.
“I visited the mining site and realised that some of the excavators at the site had some of the parts removed and lying close to the excavator with a lot of sand and gravels heaped at the site. I then took photographs and made video recordings of the site for evidential purposes,” ASP Adaba (Rtd.) disclosed.
The court, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, adjourned the case to March 27, 2023 for the video recording to be played.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak