The Accra High Court has reaffirmed its stance not to grant bail to alleged Chinese galamsey kingpin, En Huan a.k.a. Aisha Huang.
According to the presiding judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, unless there is undue delay in the trial, there will be no basis to grant Aisha bail.
At Monday’s hearing (October 24, 2022), the lawyer for Aisha, Captain Nkrabea Effah-Dartey, wanted to move a fresh bail application for his client.
That was after a Deputy Attorney-General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, informed the court that his outfit was now filing disclosures as directed by the court for pre-trial to begin.
Mr Effah-Dartey then told the court that the submission by Deputy A-G meant the prosecution had not complied with the court orders for the disclosures to be filed for pre-trial to start today.
Justice Marfo, however, told counsel that she would not change her stance not to grant bail to Aisha because there had not been any undue delay in the trial.
Hearing continues on November 2, 2022, for pre-trial.
Justice Marfo directed the prosecution to file all the disclosures and also served same on Aisha four days before the adjourned date.
Not guilty
En Huang has been accused of being in the thick of affairs of illegal mining (galamsey), especially in the Ashanti Region.
She was repatriated from Ghana in 2018 after the A-G decided to discontinue her trial in which she was accused of engaging in small-scale mining without licence.
However, she was said to have sneaked back into the country to allegedly engage in the same activities for which she was repatriated.
The A-G then decided to prosecute her for the alleged crimes before her repatriation and new ones committed since her entry back into the country.
It is the case of the prosecution that Aisha had an illegal mining concession at Bepotenteng in the Amansie West District in the Ashanti Region and also operated a mining support services company.
She has 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.