The state has filed fresh charges against three Chinese nationals standing trial in an Accra High Court as accomplices of illegal mining kingpin, Aisha Huang.
The accused persons' Shi Yang, Li Wei Guo, Shi Mei Zhi, and Ngu Yen Thi Thianh Tuyen, a Vietnamese were initially charged together with the three facing a charge for engaging in illegal without a license while the Vietnamese was facing a charge for remaining in Ghana after the expiration of her permit.
However, when the case was called on Monday, November 21, 2022, the prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, moved for a substitution of the charge sheet.
The prosecution subsequently filed two counts of engaging in mining without a license and possessing a forged document against the three Chinese nationals.
The prosecutor reading the facts of the case to the court said the three Chinese nationals in 2013 undertook illegal mining operations at a town near Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region without a license granted by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, contrary to Section 99 (2a) of the Minerals and Mining Act, Act 2006.
On the second count, the prosecutor said the accused persons in October 2022 were found to have in their passports resident permits that were not granted by the Ghana Immigration Service.
All three individuals pleaded not guilty to both charges brought against them.
Following the substitution of their old charges with the new charges, the court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo struck out the initial charges against the four.
In the case of the Vietnamese national, the prosecution said it will file separate charges against her since her case bordered on immigration issues.
“The accused persons are remanded to prison custody. These are foreigners who have been charged with grave offences and do not have any social and financial ties to the country and if they are granted bail, they are likely not to return for trial. It is in the interest of justice that they be kept in prison custody pending their trial.
In the meantime, counsel for the republic are to file their disclosures and serve the accused persons or their counsel on or before the next adjourned date. The case adjourned to December 14, 2022 for CMC,” the presiding judge ordered after admitting the charges against the Chinese nationals.
GA/BOG
Three out of the four suspects have been slapped with new charges