Nkrabeah Effah Dartey, a prominent member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has denied claims that his defense of Aisha Huang was a part of a larger scheme by the government and his party to have the alleged “galamsey” kingpin exonerated.
He claims that Aisha Huang was brought to him by a former employee of the Ghana Immigration Service in 2017 to take the place of her prior attorney, who was departing the country.
He continued by saying that he is defending Aisha because the supposed “galamsey” kingpin is paying for his services and because he took an oath when he became a lawyer promising to defend anyone who seeks his assistance.
“Aisha Huang is a Chinese woman whom I first got in touch with in the year 2017. My friend, who used to be an immigration officer by the name Moses, called me one afternoon to meet him at Kempinski Hotel for some discussions.
“So, I went to Kempinski, and when I got there, Moses was sitting with a Chinese woman. He then told me that the woman he was sitting with (Aisha Huang) was a Chinese woman who had a case in court and needed representation.
“I accepted to represent the woman and charged her. After she had paid me, I became her lawyer,” he said in Twi in an interview on Kofi TV, which GhanaWeb monitored.
Effah Dartey, who is a two-time Member of Parliament for Berekum, also maintained that his client was innocent and that the state was just harassing her for a crime she never committed.
He added that the eight witness statements the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, has indicated he will be presenting will amount to nothing.