An Accra Circuit Court has granted bail to Ohene Fianko, alias Nana Fianko, who claims to be a National Security Operative, to the sum of GH?800,000.00 with three sureties, one of whom should be a government worker, earning not less than GH?3,000.00.
The court presided over by Mr Susana Eduful further ordered the accused person to deposit at the court registry, documents covering the ownership of some tipper trucks until final determination of the case.
The court, at yesterday’s sitting, further instructed the prosecution to expedite the process of the trial by making available all necessary information.
However, the accused person pleaded not guilty to the charges of undertaking small scale mining without license, contrary to section 99(5)(a) of the Mineral and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703) as amended by Act 995, 2019.
The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kofi Frimpong, told the court that the accused person was arrested based on information gathered by the intelligence agencies. According to him, somewhere in April 2021, the intelligence agencies gathered that Mr Fianko, together with others, were undertaking illegal mining locally, known as galamsey, at SubinAkwaboso in the Central Region.
ASP Frimpong said the accused person was arrested through a Chinese national, Yang Maoji, who the Security Operative had allegedly engaged at the mining site.
According to the prosecutor, Yang Maoji was arrested by the Operation Halt Team led by Major Mathias Diedzorm Dey on May 15, 2021 and during interrogation mentioned the accused person as the owner of the illegal mining site.
The prosecutor explained that Yang Maoji, currently on remand, on May 25, 2021 was accompanied by the officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters and others from Crime Scene and Drone team to the mining site for investigation.
On June 1, 2021 the accused person was arrested by the police and during interrogation alleged that he was an employee of the National Security Secretariat, Accra.
ASP Frimpong added that the alleged National Security operative also admitted that he is the owner of the mining site at SubinAkwaboso, as well as all the equipment found at the site.
He said preliminary investigations revealed the accused person is the owner of an entity called Excess Investment Company Limited, which was undertaking the illegal mining at the SubinAkwaboso.
The prosecutor added that heavy mining equipment; including excavator, tipper trucks and water pumps were found on the site.The case was adjourned to July 7, 2021.
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