The Office of the Special Prosecutor on Tuesday, June 13, declared Charles Bissue, the former Secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), wanted.
This declaration follows Mr. Bissue’s failure to respond to an invitation from the Special Prosecutor to appear and answer questions regarding the ongoing investigation into suspected corruption within the dissolved IMCIM.
Mr. Bissue recently filed a writ at the High Court in Accra in an attempt to prevent the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) from prosecuting him. This legal action was in response to the ongoing investigation led by the Special Prosecutor into alleged corruption involving Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, the Chairman of the IMCIM.
The Court has also stopped the Special Prosecutor from applying for further arrest warrant pending the determination of the substantive matter and also publishing notices purporting the applicant to be wanted pending the determination of the substantive matter.
Charles Bissue was fingered in an exposé by Investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye Pi team when he was caught taking bribes to facilitate illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.
Bissue in the video emerged as a facilitator for a company seeking to circumvent laid down processes to be given clearance for its mining operations.
He is seen receiving wads of cash to facilitate the speedy ‘clearance’ of a mining company so that it can begin mining as soon as possible and is heard in the video instructing his subordinates over the phone to “fast track” the processing of the company’s documents.