Court hears immigration evidence in Aisha Huang trial

Proceedings at the Accra High Court hearing the criminal case against alleged illegal miner En Huang, popularly known as Aisha Huang, were briefly interrupted after the accused complained that she could not understand the interpretation being provided by a court interpreter.

Aisha Huang informed the court that the interpretation by an interpreter from the Ghana Institute of Languages was inadequate, prompting her lead counsel, Captain (Rtd) Nkrabeah Effah Dartey, to request the appointment of another interpreter.

The trial judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, subsequently directed that a Chinese interpreter from the Ghana Police Service, Edward Joseph Yawson, take over the interpretation. After the new interpreter began translating the proceedings, Aisha indicated that she understood the interpretation.

During the hearing, the prosecution’s second witness, Superintendent David Essien of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), continued his testimony under cross-examination.

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Supt Essien told the court that investigations by the GIS established that Aisha Huang had obtained an indefinite residence permit in 2017 on the basis of a purported marriage to a Ghanaian identified as Anthony Fabien.

According to the witness, subsequent investigations revealed that the residence permit application had been supported by a forged marriage certificate and a forged Ghanaian passport.

He said the Comptroller-General of the Ghana Immigration Service revoked the residence permit on grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation in accordance with the Immigration Act, after which Aisha Huang was repatriated from Ghana in 2018.

Earlier in his evidence-in-chief, led by Director of Public Prosecutions Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, the witness said he had worked with the Ghana Immigration Service for nine years and was stationed at the Kumasi office.

He told the court that his investigations began after media reports published in August 2016 alleged that Aisha Huang’s mining activities at Bepotenten in the Amansie Central District had encroached on farmlands, including cocoa farms, and were linked to the drowning of six children.

The prosecution tendered the newspaper publications as evidence.

The defence objected, arguing that the witness was not the author of the publications and therefore could not be cross-examined on them.

However, the court overruled the objection and admitted the publications into evidence, ruling that they were relevant to the investigation.

“The admissibility of the document is one thing and the weight to be put on it is another,” Justice Marfo ruled.

Supt Essien further testified that, following the reports, he was instructed by his Regional Commander to invite Aisha Huang for questioning and investigate her immigration status.

He said Aisha Huang honoured the invitation and her statement was taken.

The witness also told the court that after several Chinese nationals were arrested at Bepotenten, one of them, Gao Jun Chen, informed immigration officers that their passports were being kept by Aisha Huang.

He said Aisha Huang and other Chinese nationals were subsequently transferred to Accra on May 7, 2017, for further investigations.

Aisha Huang is standing trial on charges including undertaking mining operations without a licence, facilitating the participation of persons in illegal mining, employing foreign nationals without authorisation and re-entering Ghana despite an alleged prohibition.

She has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.