The Accra Circuit Court 9 has remanded a Chinese national, Aisha Huang, who gained notoriety as an illegal mining kingpin in 2017, into police custody.
It is unclear what led to her re-arrest, but GhanaWeb sources have confirmed that the woman who was reported to have been deported from the country in December 2018 was put before the court on Monday, September 5, 2022.
Ms. Huang, who was described as “untouchable” on some media platforms, was in 2017 charged with undertaking small-scale mining operations contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).
She was also charged with providing mine support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission, contrary to Section 59 and 99 (2) of the Minerals and Mining Act; and also charged with illegal employment of foreign nationals (in breach of section 24 of the Immigration Act and regulation 18 of the Immigration Regulations).
Her deportation meant the state discontinued the trial against her.
In 2018, the then Senior Minister, Nana Yaw Osafo Maafo, justified the decision.
Justifying why the state had to deport the Chinese national, the Senior Minister, addressing some concerns of Ghanaians in the diaspora at a town hall meeting on April 18, 2019, revealed that, “Putting [Aisha Huang] in jail in Ghana is not going to solve your money problem. It is not going to make you happy or me happy.”
Fast forward to September 20, 2019, President Nana Akufo-Addo described the deportation of Miss Huang as a mistake.
“I think the decision to deport Aisha Huang in hindsight was a mistake, and that is why that process and procedure is being stopped,” he said at a forum at Princeton University during his visit to the United States of America.
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