Galamsey queen granted bail

An Accra High Court (Criminal Division) yesterday granted bail to En Huang aka Aisha, the 31-year-old Chinese lady in police grips over her alleged involvement in illegal mining operations in the country.

The court acceded to the request of her lawyers to grant her and other accused persons bail.

Lawyers for the accused persons had at the last court sitting made frantic and passionate appeals to the court to grant his clients bail but to no avail.

The other accused persons are Gao Jin Cheng, 45; Lu Qi Jun, 39; Haibin Gao, 26; Zhang and Zhang Pen, 23.

Huang and her alleged accomplices were arrested by the Ghana Immigration Service in Kumasi for engaging in illegal mining also known as galamsey and subsequently brought to Accra for trial.

Charges

According to the charge sheet dated May 23, 2017, all the five have been charged with “undertaking small-scale mining without authority contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Mining and Minerals Act.”

Aisha has been slapped with a second charge which reads, “Providing mine support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission.”

She is facing an additional charge of illegal employment of foreign nationals contrary to Section 24 of the Immigration Act while the four others face the charge of disobedience of directive given by or under the Immigration Act, 2000.

Ruling

In a ruling, the court, presided over by Charles Edward Ekow Baiden, did not grant the state’s request for the court to keep the accused persons in prison.

He said the prosecution had failed to demonstrate how the accused persons would interfere with investigations if bailed or if the accused would not make themselves available to stand trial.

Justice Biaden added that the state had again failed to demonstrate to the court that the accused persons were flight risk.

The judge stated that for the state – represented by Mercy Arthur, a senior state attorney – to insist that it is possible for the accused persons to interfere with the police investigation was inadequate grounds for the court to deny them bail.

He explained that the prosecution failed to tell the court aspects of investigations outstanding and how the accused persons, when granted bail, could interfere with their investigation.

Justice Baiden noted that the prosecution had come to the court on a number of times seeking the remand of the accused persons with the claim that “investigations were ongoing.”

He observed that the prosecution, while seeking the remand of the accused persons, gave no timeline when it would wrap up the said investigations, adding that no court would grant that request based on the broad and vague assertion by the state.

The court indicated that the AG ought to have known that the allegations brought against the accused persons were related to Mining and Minerals Act, and yet did not charge them under the Act.

The judge opined that the court does not think the AG expected it (court) to believe that the arresting officers during the arrests did not see the impact of their operation.

The court held that it had no grounds to doubt the authenticity of the medical report filed by the lawyer because it came from a country where such documents were not easy to be obtained.

The judge said the defence failed to show that Aisha was suffering from a life-threatening condition that needed attention.

Bail

Justice Baiden subsequently admitted Aisha to bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 with two sureties, both to be justified.

The other four accused persons were each bailed in the sum of GH¢500,000 with one surety to be justified – all to be Ghanaians by birth.

As part of the bail conditions, all the accused persons are to report twice a week to the Inspector General of Police or the Director of Immigration or their representatives in writing.

The passports of the accused persons are to be handed over to the registrar of the court to be sent to the Director of Immigration or the IGP within seven days of receipt.

Justice Baiden said the prosecution had seven days to put their house in order and as well file a composite fact sheet for the trial to commence and for the pleas of the accused persons to be taken.

He said the prosecution must be ready with its witnesses, warning that the court would not tolerate any unnecessary application for adjournments.

Ellis Owusu Fordjour, lead counsel for the accused persons, said the security agencies must respect the orders of the court.

The accused persons worked as illegal miners at Bepotenten in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region.

At the time of their arrest, galamsey had been outlawed by the President Akufo-Addo government through the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu.

Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned until June 16.