The state has filed new charges against three accomplices of Chinese ‘Galamsey Queen’ Aisha Huang.
The accused are Shi Yang, also known as Philip, Li Wei Guo and Shi Mei Zhi, all Chinese nationals.
The three have now been charged with two counts of undertaking a mining operation without a licence and possessing a forged document contrary to sections 166 and 159(b) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, Act 29.
They have all pleaded not guilty to the new charges.
Meanwhile, the fourth accused, a Vietnamese, who was also standing trial with the three accused persons, has been discharged.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, told the court that the charges against Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen are mainly immigration charges, and she will, therefore, be tried separately.
The facts of the case narrated by the prosecution indicate that the accused persons were arrested at their residence at Paraku Estates near Daaban, Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region.
This was after personnel from National Security received information that the accused persons were dealing in gold.
A search at their Paraku Estates residence produced five payment receipts with a total face value of GH¢285,000 issued by 5th Hour Company Limited to Li Wei Guo.
The receipts showed that the amount paid was for purchasing mining concessions, farmlands, groundwork, and transfer of concessions.
It said the concessions were located at Kofi Pare, near Suhum and that Shi Mei Zhi and Li Wei Guo, who were involved in the transaction, were not able to mine at the time of their arrest.
The prosecution said the two partners were said to have mined at Nwinso, near Nkawkaw, in 2017.
Shi Yang is said to be the Director of ShimaBen Ghana Limited, a company that took over En Huang’s Golden Asia Supermarket after her repatriation.
Further investigations found two metal safes, which contained money in several denominations, 19 small containers of mercury in the warehouse of ShemaBen, as well as excavator parts and industrial oil.
The prosecution added that “all three accused persons had residence permits in their passports, but Ghana Immigration Service has found that they did not issue them”.
Bail Application
The court presided over by Lydia Osei Marfo, remanded the accused into prison.
The court held that the accused persons do not have sufficient social and financial ties in the country to warrant bail.
“If they are granted bail, they are likely not going to return for their trial. It is in the interest of justice that they are kept in prison custody pending the outcome of their trial,” she added.
Justice Marfo also ordered the prosecution to file their disclosures and serve the accused persons or their counsel on or before December 14, 2022.