More inconsistencies are emerging in the government’s account of how notorious illegal miner, Aisha Huang, left the country in 2018.
Despite the government providing evidence of a repatriation notice and the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, saying she was repatriated, the prosecutors in court on Wednesday stated that Aisha Huang sneaked out of Ghana after her arrest in 2017.
She again sneaked back into Ghana early in 2022, according to facts presented by the prosecutors in court on Wednesday, September 14, 2022.
Aisha Huang and three others were denied bail after the court hearing on Wednesday.
She is standing trial with three other Chinese nationals; Jong Li Hua, Huang Jei and Huaid Hai Hun.
They have all been charged with mining without a valid license and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a permit.
Since Aisha Huang was arrested earlier in September, there has been controversy about how she left Ghana and how she ended back in the country.
The initial reporting on the case was that she had been deported in 2018 after filing a nolle prosequi to discontinue an earlier case against her.
But North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, claimed Aisha Huang was not escorted during her “supposed deportation” as was required.
In the days after Mr. Ablakwa’s comments, President Akufo-Addo also said he was unsure whether Aisha Huang was deported from Ghana in 2018 or fled.
This prompted the government to share documents indicating she was given a notice of repatriation in December 2018.
The Information Minister also said definitely that Aisha Huang had been repatriated.
