Mr. Osei Mensah’s action follows advice from the Attorney General urging him to do so.

This is according to a letter sighted by Citi News from the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council to the Ashanti Regional Police Command.

In August 2017, Mr. Osei Mensah, ordered the seizure of the equipment because Exton Cubic was said to be prospecting without a permit at the Nyinahini bauxite concession of the Tano Offin Forest Reserve.

At the time, the mining company maintained that the seizure of vehicles belonging to Ibrahim Mahama’s Engineers and Planners (E&P) was unlawful because it was in possession of three required permits.

The company had also complained that it was being targeted by the government for political reasons, due to Ibrahim Mahama’s relations with former President Mahama.

It further complained that the confusion in Nyinahin and the seizure of the equipment was costing over $40,000 daily.

But the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Peter Amewu, eventually revoked these permits because they were found to be invalid due to non-compliance on the part of Exton Cubic.

The Sector Minister explained that the company’s failure to provide key documents covering its acceptance of the lease, notice of pendency, environmental impact assessment and other statutory requirements rendered the leases invalid.

This decision was later overturned by a High Court after Exton Cubic filed an application for a review of the decision.

The court judgement held that Mr. Amewu exceeded his powers by withdrawing the license in line with Exton Cubic’s assertion that the Minister’s decision was unreasonable, unjust, and an abuse of his powers.

The court, however did not legitimize the operations of Exton Cubic in the Nyinahini bauxite concession.

A Deputy Attorney-General, Godfred Dame, has given some indications the government intends to further pursue the case of the validity of Exton Cubic Group Limited’s permits to prospect in the concession.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Release Exton Cubic’s equipment – Minister to police appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The company said the seizure of vehicles belonging to Ibrahim Mahama’s Engineers and Planners (E&P), was done unlawfully on the instruction of the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, and the District Chief Executive of the Atwima Mponua District.

“We wish to state emphatically that the said publications are false and a total misrepresentation of the actual facts of the issue. We wish to state unequivocally that Exton Cubic Group has never engaged in any illegal mining activity in Ghana,” Exton said in a statement.

Exton Cubic Group clarified that the vehicles of one of its sub-contractors, E&P, were impounded along with the “unlawful detention of our officers by the Nyinahin Police on the 20^th of August 2017.”

The mining company had engaged Engineers and Planners (E&P), a company owned by Mr. Mahama, to use its equipment to undertake a prospective service.

Operations at Nyanihin lawful

The company stressed that it had legally acquired the Nyinahini Bauxite concession as far back as August 14, 2013.

“It came to us as a surprise when without any lawful excuse, the District Chief Executive of Atwima Mponua District Assembly and the Ashanti Regional Minister caused the trucks of the subcontractor to be impounded in the center of the Nyinahin township.”

“After going through all the laid down procedures required by law, Exton Cubic Group Limited was granted a mining lease for the Nyinahin Bauxite Deposit by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources on the 29^th of December 2016. This mining lease was registered at the lands commission of Ghana on the 9^th of January 2017.”

The company is yet to receive any official communication from the authorities concerned as to why our E&P’s trucks and equipment have been impounded.

Exton Cubic Group’s lawyers are in talks with police in the area over the issue “and it is our hope that the police will release the impounded trucks as soon as possible to forestall any further pecuniary losses to us.”

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post A/R: Minister accused of unlawful seizure of mining trucks appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.