Special Prosecutor Declares Charles Bissue Wanted

The Office of the Special Prosecutor has 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.

In the writ, Mr. Bissue disclosed that he had received a letter from the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which considered him a necessary person for the investigation and requested his presence for an interview. He, however, failed to honour that invitation by the Special Prosecutor.

Back in December 2022, Mr. Bissue initiated legal proceedings by issuing a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim against the OSP and two others after the OSP announced in its Half-Yearly Report that it had concluded investigations into corruption allegations made by Tiger Eye P.I. and Anas against Mr. Bissue.

In January 2023, Mr. Bissue amended the writ and subsequently filed an injunction to restrain the OSP from further investigating and prosecuting him. The Office of the Special Prosecutor was granted permission to file its statement of case in opposition to the Motion.

However, despite several adjournments in the proceedings, Mr. Bissue has not taken any action on the injunction application. The Office of the Special Prosecutor considers Mr. Bissue’s failure to honor the invitation as a significant hindrance to the investigation and has declared him wanted.