High Court denies alleged 4 accomplices of Ashia Huang bail

High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, has denied four persons who are alleged to be accomplices of the notorious galamsey kingpin Aisha Huang, bail. The court subsequently ordered the accused persons to be remanded into prison custody pending the outcome of their trial. The four are made up of three Chinese nationals and a Vietnamese whose permit to stay in the country is said to have expired. The accused persons are Chinese nationals; Shi Yang alias Philip, Li Wei Guo and Shi Mei Zhi and Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, a Vietnamese national. The three Chinese accused persons have been charged with engaging in small scale-mining without a licence, contrary to section 99(2)(a) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) as amended by Act 995 of 2019. Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, the Vietnamese national has been charged with the offence of 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). The plea of the three Chinese nationals were taken and they all pleaded not guilty. However, the fourth accused person, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, the Vietnamese national, was not taken because of language difficulties. The Court had a Chinese interpreter present in Court but did not have a Vietnamese interpreter. To this end, the Court ordered the Institute of Languages at the University of Ghana, to furnish the Court with an officer who can speak Vietnamese to assist the Court in taking the plea of the fourth accused person. The Court subsequently adjourned sitting to Tuesday 1 November 2022, to take the plea of the fourth accused person and to comence case management conference.