Charles Bissue
Former Secretary of the defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Charles Bissue, yesterday turned himself in to the Office of the Special Prosecutor which declared him wanted for corruption and corruption-related activities.
He is among a number of people being investigated by the OSP for their roles in alleged corruption activities that has saddled the work of the IMCIM, which was tasked with fighting the illegal mining (galamsey) menace in the country’s mining areas.
A statement signed by Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng said Mr. Bissue turned himself in to the OSP yesterday and was immediately arrested, interviewed and released on bail.
Mr. Bissue turning himself in to the OSP alleviates the tension that has been brewing between him and the investigative body over the past weeks.
An Accra High Court on June 15 issued an interlocutory injunction prohibiting the OSP from arresting Mr. Bissue after his lawyers went before the court challenging an arrest warrant issued by a Kaneshie Magistrate Court.
The court, presided over by Justice Nicholas Abodakpi, in a ruling restricted the OSP from going ahead with the execution of the arrest warrant it secured last week until the final determination of a suit filed by Mr. Bissue seeking to stop the OSP from investigating him.
The court also restrained the OSP, its agents, assigns and/or persons howsoever described and claiming through it from applying for further arrest warrant against Mr. Bissue pending the determination of the substantive matter.
The court again restrained the OSP and its agents from publishing notices purporting Mr. Bissue to be wanted pending the determination of the substantive matter.
The interim injunction was to last for a period of ten days. The substantive case has been adjourned to June 22, 2023.
The OSP immediately after the issuance of the injunction indicated in a statement on Twitter that “in exercise of its police powers, the Office of the Special Prosecutor can arrest without a warrant, any person it reasonably suspects of having committed corruption or corruption-related offences.”
Antecedent
The OSP on June 13, 2023, placed Mr. Bissue on its wanted list for corruption and corruption-related activities.
It followed Mr. Bissue’s refusal to turn himself in to the OSP which secured a warrant for his arrest last week, granted by an Accra High Court.
The OSP prior to that secured a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Bissue after he failed to honour an invitation extended to him by the investigative body.
His lawyer, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, speaking on Top Story on Joy FM, said his client would not be turning himself in to the OSP because the court order was not properly secured, as the court that granted the order would not have done so if it was privy to all the information including complaints of human rights of Mr. Bissue by the Special Prosecutor.
According to him, “the arrest warrant would have been secured ex parte, which is without notice to Charles Bissue.”
Mr. Bissue subsequently filed a fresh suit asking an Accra High Court to set aside the warrant against him on ground that the OSP is violating his human rights.
That was the third time Mr. Bissue filed a suit of this nature against the investigative body, with the previous two seeking an Accra High Court to bar the OSP from investigating him because the subject of the probe had already been investigated by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Ghana Police Service.
The probe stems from a “Galamsey Fraud Part 1” investigative piece published by Anas Aremeyaw Anas which accused Mr. Bissue of demanding money as a bribe and being compromised on his duty and national effort in the fight against the illegal mining menace.
His lawyer argues that once the police had concluded their investigation into the purported corruption documentary, any investigation and prosecution of the same matter would amount to a review of the investigation and findings already done by the police.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak