The Attorney General has amended the charge of the case involving Huang Lei, a Chinese national believed to be the son of illegal mining kingpin, En Huang, popularly known as Aisha Huang, who is also standing trial for illegal mining.
The prosecution amended the charge sheet after it added another Chinese national who committed similar offences as Aisha’ Huang’s son.
Huang Lei, has been charged with one count of remaining in Ghana after the expiration of his passport and one count of possessing 250 rounds of ammunition without authority.
His counterpart, Huang Haihua, has also been charged with one count of possessing a forged document – a fake residence permit, while Shi Yang, who was initially standing trial with his mother and stepfather has now been charged with one count of possessing a forged residence permit and four counts of possessing ammunition without authority.
He has been charged for being in the possession of 114 rounds of ammunition – 83 live rounds of 9mm ammunition, three (3) live rounds of 8mm ammunition and another 22 live rounds of BB ammunition without authority.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charges. Lucy Ekeleba Blay, counsel for Shi Yang, raised the issue of bail for her client, making reference to his and his parents’ social and financial ties in the country which she had earlier filed before the court in an application for bail for him and his mother as well as his stepfather.
Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, the presiding judge, however, indicated that the application had become moot given the fact that the accused persons had been discharged from the charge sheet in respect of which the application was filed.
She remanded all three into prison custody on ground that “they are Chinese nationals and in my opinion they are flight risk. They may not come to stand trial when granted bail.” She adjourned the case to January 12, 2023 for mention as the judge is going on leave.
The facts of the case presented by Mercy Arthur, a Principal State Attorney, said sometime in August this year, the Ghana Immigration Service and other security agencies received a tip off that some Chinese nationals were living in Ghana despite the expiration of their permit.
Huang Lei was arrested on September 2, 2022, and the arresting officers were able to retrieve among other things, eight packs of Eley shot gun cartridges, containing about two 250 pieces of ammunition. He was not able to provide a valid licence for them.
She said Huang Haihua, on the other hand had in his possession a Chinese passport bearing his name and affixed to the said passport is what appears to be a Republic of Ghana Residence Permit purportedly issued by the Director of Immigration for a one-year period with effect from May 26, 2022.
However, investigations disclosed that the supposed permit was not issued by or with the consent or authority of the Ghana Immigration Service.
Mrs. Arthur indicated that based on further intelligence gathered, the team of security officers visited a property at Daban, Kumasi, on September 14, 2022, where Shi Yang, together with others resided and were also arrested on suspicion of remaining in Ghana without the requisite permits as well as engaging in illegal mining operations.
She said Chinese passport bearing his name and other particulars was retrieved from him and affixed with what appears to be a Republic of Ghana Residence Permit “purportedly issued by the Director of Immigration for a one-year period with effect from May 26, 2022. However, investigations disclosed that the supposed permit was not issued by or with the consent or authority of the Ghana Immigration Service.”
“Also retrieved from the room of the third accused person (Shi Yang) were eighty-three (83) pieces of live 9mm ammunition, three (3) pieces of live 8mm ammunition, twenty-two (22) pieces of live BB ammunition and three (3) pieces of live AA ammunition, all of which were in the possession of the third accused person without authority,” Mrs. Arthur added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak