According to the fact sheet for the latest trial of Chinese galamsey kingpin Aisha Huang and three other Chinese nationals, she deliberately avoided prosecution by fleeing the country five years ago.
In 2017, it was widely assumed that Aisha Huang, also known as En Huans, had been deported after prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi in the middle of her trial.
Then, Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo confirmed the deportation, stating that the prosecution of the notorious galamsey queen could damage Ghana’s previously cordial diplomatic relations with China.
He expressed concern that if Aisha Huang had been prosecuted and possibly imprisoned, the Sinohydro deal would have been abandoned, potentially causing major infrastructure projects to stall.
Later that year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo expressed his displeasure with the alleged deportation of the Chinese businesswoman.
“In retrospect, I believe the decision to deport Aisha Huang was a mistake, and that is why that process and procedure is being suspended,” he said at a forum at Princeton University in the United States.
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However, in a radio interview on Tuesday in the Volta Region’s capital city of Ho, President Akufo-Addo stated that he was unsure whether Aisha Huang had been deported or had fled the country.
“When you’re in a situation like this woman’s [Aisha Huang’s]…
“I’m not sure whether she was deported or whether she fled the country the first time and has now returned, or whatever, but there still appears to be some uncertainty,” he said.
Aisha Huang was denied bail when she appeared before an Accra Circuit Court on Wednesday, September 14.
“She sneaked back into the country in early 2022 after changing the details on her Chinese passport.”
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