The hearing at a High Court was briefly interrupted when Aisha Huang, a suspected Chinese illegal miner, burst into tears over what she believes as lies being thrown against her in the criminal trial.
The prosecution claimed she kept the passports of two Chinese citizens because she had imported them from China to work on her malfunctioning excavator.
She explained that she had the two’s passports since they had come to her for help renewing their expired permits.
Aisha Huang disputed allegations that she enabled the entry of some Chinese nationals and hired them to engage in illicit mining.
She claims she is not involved in any illicit mining operations in Ghana.
Aisha Huang, who was sobbing in court, claimed innocence in her criminal prosecution. She denied any wrongdoing and told the Court she could swear her remarks were true.
The Trial Judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, and the Chinese Interpreter had to work hard to calm her down.
Yvonne Obuobisa Attakora, Director of Public Prosecutions, who cross-examined the accused, questioned why she arranged for two additional accused persons to be picked up from the airport and sent to Bepotenten if they were not in the country at her request.
Aisha Haung said that the statement was not true, explaining that she had no knowledge of their arrival in Ghana because she did not facilitate their travel.
The Prosecution pointed out a portion of Aisha Huang’s statement taken on August 30 2017, where she stated that, she engaged the services of one of the Chinese nationals, to provide repair services at a mining site at Gyaman in the Ashanti region, but she denied.
She added that, she was asked to sign the statement because that was the only way she could leave the Police station and that she did not understand the content of any of the records.
Aisha Huang is before the Court on four charges including entering the country when she had been prohibited from doing so.
The rest are undertaking mining operation without a licence, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in mining operation and illegal employment of foreign nationals.
