Freddie Blay should not have accepted to defend alleged illegal miners - Obiri Boahen

Freddie Blay's firm should not have accepted to defend alleged illegal miners - Obiri Boahen

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Politics Oct - 12 - 2022 , 09:38

In my candid opinion, former Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Freddie Blay's law firm should not have accepted to defend accused persons in the ongoing illegal mining case pending before the Accra High Court, Mr Obiri Boahen, a former General Secretary of the NPP has said.

In a radio interview monitored by Graphic Online on Accra based Okay FM on Wednesday morning (October 12, 2022), Nana Obiri Boahen said Mr Blay's firm should have allowed other lawyers to stand in for the accused persons.

In my candid opinion, my former chairman who is also my friend and I even defended him [Blay] when CHRAJ cited him for contempt and we won the case, honestly it is not every case that any lawyer must take up, Nana Obiri Boahen said.

He said the illegal mining fight by the NPP government, was a "serious matter, serious menace", which goes beyond just the NPP government as it encompasses even the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and every Ghanaian.

He acknowledged that there is a presumption of innocence in every case before the courts, "but my chairman, my senior, my friend, my everything, who has been very good to me, who I may not want to speak against, I was extremely surprised that he took up this case", Nana Obiri Boahen said.

On Tuesday (October 11, 2022) in court, Lucy Ekeleba Blay, a private legal practitioner, told the court that she was holding brief for Mr Freddy Blay in the case of four accused persons said to be accomplices of En Huang, popularly known as Aisha Huang, who have been charged for engaging in illegal mining activities in Ghana.

The four accomplices are Shi Yang alias Philip, Li Wei Zuo and Shi Mei Zhi, all chinese nationals. The fourth accused person is Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, a Vietnamese national. These are the accused persons Mr Blay's law firm is representing.

There is a different case involving Aisha Huang and three others, who have also been charged with illegal mining offences in a different case. In that case, all the accused persons are Chinese nationals. The other accomplices in that case are Jong Li Hua, Huang Jei and Huaid Hai Hun.

Mr Freddie Blay is the lead counsel for the firm in which Lucy Ekeleba Blay works for and representing Shi Yang alias Philip, Li Wei Guo and Shi Mei Zhi and Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen.

Already, Mr Blay has clarified that he is not the one who is personally handling the case. [LISTEN TO AUDIO ATTACHED BELOW FOR MY BLAY'S EXPLANATION]

PRESS RELEASE:
REPRESENTATION OF CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE NATIONALS ACCUSED OF ILLEGAL MINING
We release this statement in reference to our representation of four (4) foreign nationals (three (3) Chinese and one (1) Vietnamese) who were arraigned this day October 11 before Her Ladyship Afia Serwaa at the Criminal High Court 5 in Accra.

It has come to our attention that there have been negative misconceptions in the representation of our clients, in the case of the Republic vs Shi Yang, Shi Mei Zhi, Li Wei Zuo, and another, (our "Clients"), and we as a firm would like to clarify these Issues. To us, it would seem that our Clients are collateral victims to a matter that is of great national concern.
We understand the deep-seated anger and sentiments any story on illegal mining evokes in Ghanaians. Even worse is when those accused are foreign nationals because of the extensive degradation and pollution of water bodies laid at their doorstep.
At Blay and Associates however, we believe in the inviolability of the judicial system. Blay & Associates is a firm that seeks to promote justice, ensures a fair trial, and seeks to give fair representation. We, as firm believers of our great 1992 Constitution of Ghana ("Constitution"), agreed to defend these Clients, having in mind these principles.
Our defence of the accused is steeped in our belief that they are innocent of the charges preferred against them. The facts of the case as we know to be true are as follows.

The 1^st to 3^rd accused are legally resident, law-abiding persons in Ghana. Our clients have no business relationship with Aisha Huang except the fact of purchasing the supermarket from her in 2017 when she was first repatriated to China. Aisha Huang has had no further business dealings with our clients upon her return to Ghana.

Our Clients operate a supermarket business that stocks regular goods and some specific Chinese groceries making them a reliable shop for Chinese and Asian patronage. A supermarket no matter how vibrant it is does not ripen into an illegal mining activity.

For the avoidance of doubt, Aisha Huang was arrested at a different time and place to our Clients who were minding their business at home when they were picked up in the early hours on 14 September 2022. It would appear that our Clients are collateral victims of the pursuit for Aisha Huang and the campaign against illegal mining.

The names of persons that some media platforms have reported that we are defending are completely false. We have no engagement with Gao Jin Cheng, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Go, or Zhang Zhipeng who are noted as Aisha Huang's associates. We also do not have any engagement with Aisha Huang.

As earlier intimated, we are extremely conscious of the sensitive nature of the "Aisha Huang matter" and the current devastating effects of illegal mining on our environment. We, along with all citizens of Ghana are very concerned about this and look forward to the resolution of these matters. Nevertheless, we believe we are duty bound to ensure the fair trial of our Client caught in the crossfires of the campaign against illegal mining.
It is expected that National Security and the NIB carry out a thorough investigation that is mindful of our great Constitution and the rights enshrined therein, including the right for all accused persons (including foreign nationals) to be represented by Counsel in order that the ends of justice is served in a fit sense.
For the fairness of this trial, and in interest of our Clients, we shall not be making any further comments or statements on this matter and would urge the media to let the court have space to adjudicate fairly on this bearing in mind a key cannon of our Justice delivery system, that is: 'all persons (including foreign nationals) are innocent until proven guilty'
Yours sincerely,
BLAY & ASSOCIATES