The former National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party, Freddie Blay, has said that the only time he will back out from defending the four accomplices standing trial in court with the embattled galamsey ‘kingpin,’ Aisha Huang, is when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo asks him to.
Describing it as a decision that will be painful to make, he stated that it is the only condition that will get him to redraw the services of his law firm for the accomplices.
The former Deputy Speaker of Parliament has stated in earlier interviews that he firmly believes the prosecution of the four (three Chinese and a Vietnamese national) is a mistake, insisting that they are innocent.
In his view, his “clients are good people and are not involved in illegal mining.”
Freddie Blay insisted that, as a lawyer, he has every right to defend persons who have been accused falsely, arguing that he has done no wrong in mounting a defense for his clients because he has sworn an oath to defend them.
“I will not be happy if he (the President) asks me to do so but I will painfully ask my law firm to abandon its defense for them. But I am sure if I give him the facts as it pertains, he will not ask of me to do so. But if he insists, out of respect and out of reverence for him, I will consider that seriously,” he said.
Freddie Blay’s response was to a question the host of Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV’s morning show, Kwesi Parker-Wilson, asked him in relation to the case of his clients.
The former Member of Parliament for the Elembelle constituency further said that the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, hasn’t been allowed to listen to his clients yet, which is unfortunate.
“The AG is not seized with the full facts and he may have been misled, so until the trial begins, we will know whether my clients are involved in galamsey,” he added.
He also cautioned against the indiscriminate arrest of Chinese foreign nationals all in the name of galamsey.
He also disclosed that there have been some members of his party, the NPP, who have cautioned him against proceeding with the case, but he has refused to, arguing that he is only doing his job as a lawyer, as quoted by Ghanaweb.com
“A couple of my party members are not happy with me and they have called me and have asked me to stay away from the case but as a lawyer, I have sworn an oath to defend accused persons so I must hold on to it,” he explained.
