The Office of the Special Prosecutor has filed criminal charges against Charles Bissue, the former Secretary of a now-defunct government task force on illegal mining, over an alleged bribery scheme tied to mining permits.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) on April 28 lodged 15 charges at the High Court in Accra against Mr. Bissue and Andy Thomas Owusu, a purported intermediary. Prosecutors allege that the two men facilitated and accepted bribes totaling 35,000 Ghanaian cedis (about $2,300) to fast-track a mining license renewal for ORR Resources Enterprise in early 2019, bypassing official procedures.

Mr. Bissue faces nine charges, including multiple counts of using public office for profit and public officer corruption. Prosecutors say he accepted payments in three installments—15,000 cedis on January 22, 10,000 cedis on January 30, and another 10,000 cedis on February 8, 2019—while serving as Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).

Mr. Owusu, charged with six counts, allegedly acted as a conduit for the bribes. According to court filings, he negotiated a 100,000 cedi deal—later reduced to 40,000 cedis—with Benjamin Adjapong, who posed as a representative of ORR Resources during a covert investigation by undercover journalists from Tiger Eye P.I. Owusu ultimately pocketed 15,000 cedis, the OSP alleges.

In exchange for the bribes, Mr. Bissue allegedly issued fraudulent permits and compliance stickers, allowing ORR Resources to operate outside of regulatory scrutiny.

The IMCIM was created in 2017 to curb illegal small-scale mining, known locally as galamsey, but was dissolved in 2021 amid a series of corruption scandals—including separate allegations that Bissue misappropriated government-seized gold and equipment.

Efforts to hold Mr. Bissue accountable have faced legal pushback. In 2023, he obtained a temporary court order blocking his arrest and challenged the legality of a notice declaring him wanted. But in November 2024, Ghana’s Human Rights Court dismissed his case, ruling there was no evidence of an unlawful warrant and imposing 10,000 cedis in legal costs against him.

The court’s decision cleared the way for the Special Prosecutor to press ahead with charges related both to the IMCIM case and a broader investigation triggered by Galamsey Fraud Part 1, a 2019 undercover documentary that cast a harsh light on corruption in Ghana’s fight against illegal mining.

The case underscores the political and legal complexities confronting Ghana’s anti-corruption campaign, as the government grapples with balancing natural resource regulation and the entrenched interests profiting from its exploitation.

Source:TheDotNews