Inter-Ministerial committee on illegal mining must pay for $15.5M judgment debt

Private legal practitioner and accounting professor lawyer Kwaku Asare aka Kwaku Azar wants former members of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), to be held liable for the recent $15.5M judgment debt.

He believes taxpayers should not be responsible for paying the judgment debt.

The outspoken lawyer said taxpayers cannot and should not be held liable for the illegal acts of public servants that substantially depart from their lawful official remit.

A Kumasi High Court has slapped the government with a judgment debt to the tune of $15 million for the unlawful seizure of excavators.

The judgment debt was awarded to Heritage Imperial Mining Company, a mining company prospecting for gold in the Apamprama Forest Reserve in the Amansie West District in the Ashanti Region.

The court also ordered that government pays the mining company, Heritage Imperial Limited an amount of GH¢600,000.

This amount was awarded to the mining firm prospecting for gold in the Apamprama Forest Reserve in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region.

But the lawyer says Ghanaians should be responsible for paying but the task force.

“The IMCIM members acted ultra vires when it confiscated and unlawfully sold equipments belonging to Heritage Imperial Limited and when it directed its boys to do galamsey on the company’s site.

These activities represent a substantial deviation from its official remit and the members should not be allowed to profit from their illegal activities while saddling the taxpayer with the debt.”