I don’t know the whereabouts of Helena Huang – Surety tells court
Mr Mohammed Bondirigbum who bailed the Chinese lady, Madam Helen Huang for illegal logging of rosewoods says she does not know the whereabouts of the lady.
The Tamale circuit court today granted bail to Mr Mohammed Bondirigbum who bailed the Chinese lady, Madam Helen Huang for illegal logging of rosewoods.
The surety was granted bail with two sureties – the sureties should be government workers with a salary of not less than GHS 30,000 monthly.
The presiding judge, Justice Appiah Twumasi, during the judgement ordered the police to park the trucks that carried the rosewoods at the court premises.
The judge who appeared worried condemned the police for granting the Chinese woman bail.
The case has been adjourned to 22nd May, 2019.
However, the surety, maintained that he doesn’t know the whereabouts of the Chinese lady.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Helena Huang, who was arrested for illegally logging rosewood and later went missing, is hiding in Lome, the capital of Togo.
Leader of Rosewood Taskforce, Ayamgabawa Fatau disclosed this on Adom FM’s Fabewoso segment on the morning show, Monday.
According to him, a respected high profile lawyer secured bail for the ‘rosewood queen’ and later helped her to escape to Togo because her passport had expired and she could no longer stay in the country.
“That Chinese woman is really using her nationality to use these high profile people. What hurts us so much is that it was a high profile lawyer who secured bail from the police station in Tamale and the police have refused to disclose who this lawyer was.
“After her bail in Tamale, they smuggled her to Kumasi and then to Lome Togo so that is her current location now,” he said.
He described the situation as very worrying since the Chinese woman has been seen as a very powerful woman in the North.
Ms Huang, 43, was apprehended while transporting trucks of rosewood lumbers through Tamale.
She was subsequently charged with possessing banned forestry products, but was later granted bail.
However, it later emerged that the Chinese national had breached her bail condition and could not be found.
But, Ayamgabawa Fatau told Adom FM that the taskforce in Tamale had known no peace in the hands of the Chinese woman who was fully involved in illegal logging and which is done with impunity.
He also revealed that the Rosewood Reserve in Tamale has been destroyed through illegal logging, but authorities have failed to act on the issue of illegal logging.
Source: atinkaonline.com
