General News of Thursday, 18 May 2017

Source: todaygh.com

GIS hot over Aisha Huang leaked tape

Kwame Asuah Takyi, Comptroller General Immigration Kwame Asuah Takyi, Comptroller General Immigration

Second-in-Command at the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) in the Ashanti Region, is in hot waters over a recording of a conversation between him and two other men regarding notorious Chinese illegal miner, Aisha Huang, leaked tape.

Chief Supt Peter Adu Appiah, who is also the Head of Enforcement and Intelligence Bureau at GIS in the Ashanti Region, is being investigated over comments he was said to have made on the said tape which is being aired by local radio stations in Accra.

The tape, according to Head of Public Relations at the GIS, Superintendent Francis Palmdeti puts the officer in a complicit position, however he would not give any details.

“Some recordings on some local FM stations in Accra have come to our attention and we have invited the officers to come to the head office.

“I am not at this moment in the position to start commenting on something that is under investigation. Individuals mentioned in the tape will surely have the opportunity to also state their side of the story,” Palmdeti yesterday, May 17, 2017 said on Joy FM in Accra.

The said conversation, Today gathered, must have been recorded by the two gentlemen who posed as staff of the Flagstaff House in Accra.

The two men had visited Aisha whilst Immigration officers were trying to effect her arrest.

Aisha Huang together with four of her accomplices who are also Chinese is also facing prosecution for offending Ghana’s immigration laws.

They have been charged with illegally employing foreign nationals as well as disobeying a directive by the government ordering all those engaged in illegal mining to cease operations.

Meanwhile Pressure Group, OccupyGhana has petitioned the Attorney-General, Gloria Akuffo, to take over the prosecution of Chinese galamsey kingpin, En Huang, known in the media as Aisha, and four others.

The group has raised questions about the nature of the charges brought against the five Chinese nationals who are standing trial for engaging in illegal mining.

It contended that, the charges as are laid by the Ghana Immigration Service do not chime with the offences allegedly committed.

“The A-G must take over the prosecution and proffer charges that may lead to stiffer punishment if the suspects are found guilty”, the group noted.