The former Secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Charles Bissue, is on the run after the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) issued a warrant for his arrest.
The OSP wants to question Mr. Bissue over suspected corruption within the IMCIM, which was dissolved by President Nana Akufo-Addo in October 2022.
Mr. Bissue is also involved in a legal battle with the OSP to stop it from prosecuting him based on an investigative report by Tiger Eye P.I. and Anas Aremeyaw Anas that exposed his alleged role in facilitating illegal mining activities.
According to court documents obtained by Citi News, Mr. Bissue received a letter from the OSP on May 3, 2023, informing him that he was a person of interest in the investigation and asking him to appear for an interview.
However, Mr. Bissue did not show up for the interview scheduled for May 22, 2023, and instead filed a writ at the High Court in Accra seeking to prevent the OSP from prosecuting him.
He also accused the OSP of violating his human rights and asked for an injunction to restrain it from further investigating him.
This is the third time that Mr. Bissue has attempted to block the OSP from investigating him since December 2022, when the OSP announced in its Half-Yearly Report that it had concluded investigations into corruption allegations against him made by Tiger Eye P.I. and Anas.
The OSP has been granted permission by the court to file its statement of case in opposition to Mr. Bissue’s motion.
However, Mr. Bissue has not taken any action on his injunction application despite several adjournments in the proceedings.
The OSP considers Mr. Bissue’s failure to cooperate with the investigation as a major obstacle and has declared him wanted.
