A Kumasi High Court has charged government with a $15.3 million judgment debt for the unlawful seizure of excavators.
Government awarded a contract to a mining firm, Heritage Imperial Limited prospecting for gold in the Apamprama Forest Reserve in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region.
The Court also ordered that government pays an amount of GHS600, 000 to the mining company,
On 6 December 2018, the company’s concession was raided by the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Illegal Mining over suspicions of mining illegally even though the license granted them only allowed for prospecting.
Lawyers for the mining firm argued that they procured a prospecting mining licence from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources on 25 October 2018.
The court presided by Justice Samuel Obeng Diawuo, ruled on 18 May 2021, that theseizure of excavators belonging to Heritage Imperial Mining Company as unlawful.
The ruling further stated that the task force failed to present evidence to back their claims that the mining company was engaged in any illegality.
The court also held that the move by the task force on the said day flies in the face of the mandate within which they were to operate in the fight against illegal mining in the country.
According to the ruling, the company also permitted other entities to invade the concession and mine from the plaintiff’s concession.
