Deputy Attorney General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah has provided clarification on the legal basis for the prison sentence and fine imposed on Chinese galamsey queen, Aisha Huang.
The Accra High Court recently sentenced Huang to four years in prison and fined her for illegal mining operations and unauthorized re-entry into Ghana.
Tuah-Yeboah addressed critics, including former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Inusah Fuseini, who deemed the sentence lenient.
He explained that Huang was convicted based on laws from 2015 and 2017, emphasizing that sentencing is determined by the laws applicable at the time of the crime.
Tuah-Yeboah addressed critics, including former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Inusah Fuseini, who deemed the sentence lenient.
He explained that Aisha Huang was convicted based on laws from 2015 and 2017, emphasizing that sentencing is determined by the laws applicable at the time of the crime.
Under the amended Minerals and Mining Act (Act 703) in 2015 and Act 900 in 2017, the punishment for engaging in illegal mining was specified as a fine of 3,000 penalty units and a minimum imprisonment of five years.
Tuah-Yeboah stressed that the court applied the laws in force during the period of Huang’s offenses.
“I think Inusah Fuseini got it wrong, because when it comes to punishment, it is so clear that when a person is convicted and is about to be sentenced or punishment, the law applicable is the law which was in existence at the time the crime was committed,” he said.
“Now if you look at the Minerals and Mining Act (Act 703)) it was amended in 2015, Act 900 amended that Act, under Act 900, the punishment for engaging in illegal mining was stated as a fine of 3,000 penalty units and an imprisonment of five years minimum.
“And so, having arrested her, and having claimed by our charge sheet that she committed these offences except the immigration offence, between 2015 and 2017, the only punishment that could be exacted on her is the punishment sanctioned under Act 900,” Tuah-Yeboah said.