The lawyer for the three other Chinese nationals, and a Vietnamese national standing trial at the Criminal Division of an Accra High Court with the embattled galamsey ‘kingpin, Aisha Huang (En Huang), is a former National Chairman of the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay.
This came to light in court on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, when the four accused standing trial for their various roles in the illegal small-scale mining in the country, returned to the court.
The three (Shi Yang alias Philip, Li Wei Guo and Shi Mei Zhi) are facing the charge of engaging in illegal mining activities in the country, while Aisha Huang has been charged with mining without a license and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals.
Aisha is also facing four other charges, including undertaking a mining operation without a license, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation, illegal employment of foreign nationals, and entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entry.
A fourth suspect, Vietnamese national, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, is however being charged for remaining in Ghana after the expiration of a permit contrary to sections 20(1) and 52(1)(d) of the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).
Attorney General, Godfred Dame was in court as state prosecutor and Freddie Blay – who is also from the same political party; NPP, was represented in court as lawyer for the accused respectively.
State prosecutors have said that they will present eight witness statements and 18 other documents when they return to court.
The case is to be heard again in court on October 24, 2022, where a case management conference will be held for Aisha Huang.
This was after the presiding judge, Lydia Osei Marfo, silenced the lawyer for Aisha Huang, Nkrabea Effah Dartey, after he argued that his client deserved bail.
Aisha Huang and another Chinese national leaving the court
About Freddie Blay:
Frederick Worsemao Armah Blay, popularly called Freddie Blay, is a Ghanaian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament in Ghana and served as the First Deputy Speaker in the Fourth Parliament of Ghana.
He lost his seat in the general elections held on 7 December 2008 to Armah Kofi Buah of the NDC. He was a member of the Convention People's Party (CPP) but resigned to join the New Patriotic Party after being criticized by some CPP stalwarts for not campaigning for the CPP flagbearer Paa Kwesi Nduom, instead endorsing NPP's presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo.
After joining the NPP, he stood for and got elected to the post of Vice Chairman of the party in April 2014. After the party expelled its Chairman Paul Afoko, it appointed Blay as its acting Chairman. He stood for and was elected as substantive Chairman of the party at an NPP party national conference in Koforidua that took place from 7 to 8 July 2018.
In the prelude to the Chairmanship race, a lot of controversies were generated when Blay promised to and eventually bought 275 buses for the 275 constituencies of the party for a purported cost of 11 million dollars. The opposition asked for an investigation.
Blay's opponent in the election called it vote-buying. Blay stated that the buses were bought with a loan facility from the Universal Merchant Bank to be run by State Transport Company on the behalf of the NPP's constituents.
He was also appointed to the position of Board Chairman for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation GNPC.
He is currently the Senior Partner at Blay and Associates.
He is also the board chairman and majority shareholder of Western Publications Limited, publishers of the Daily Guide newspaper, the flagship of the Group, Business Guide, News-One, and Young Blazers.
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Freddie Blay is a former National Chairman of the NPP