Deputy Attorney-General, Alfred Tuah Yeboah has indicated that apart from the case that involved Chinese National Aisha Huang, there are about 130 other illegal mining (galamsey) related cases that are being prosecuted across the country.
He said the state is committed to ensuring that all persons involved in the illicit small-scale mining activities are dealt with by the law.
“There are a lot of cases in court, some of them involving other Chinese nationals, there are cases in court involving Ghanaians, and now we have over 130 cases pending so Aisha Huang’s case is not the only case that we are prosecuting.
“We are prosecuting a whole lot of cases but maybe because of how Aisha Huang got into the system that is why her own is a different matter but we are committed to ensuring that those who have gone contrary to our laws in prospecting mining will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” he told TV3’s Joseph Ackah-Blay after the court hearing on Monday December 4.
The High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei-Marfo, on Monday, December 4 sentenced Aisha Huang to four years in prison after being found guilty of engaging in Galamsey.
She was also fined 48,000 Cedis.
The Court ruled that Aisah Huang did not have a license to undertake any mining activities.
Speaking on her jailing on News Central on TV3, Justice Abdulai said “I think this is rather refreshing news that the state is willing to walk the talk. This will be the biggest deterrent for both foreign nationals and locals who are bent on destroying our environment to the detriment of all of us and without taking our collective good into consideration but their selfish interest. This should serve as a good warning to them.”
Aisha Huang was first arrested and deported from Ghana in 2018.
This was after the A-G decided to nolle prosequi to discontinue her trial in which she was accused of engaging in small-scale mining without licence. She however returned into the country to allegedly engage in galansey again.
In October 2022, the A-G then decided to prosecute her for the alleged crimes before her deportation and new ones committed since her entry back into the country.
She had pleaded not guilty to undertaking a mining operation without a licence, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation, the illegal employment of foreigners, and entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entry.
But on May 3, this year, Aisha pleaded guilty to entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entry contrary to section 20(4) of the Immigration Act, 2000, Act 573.