Former Secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, Charles Bissue, has once again proving his innocence in the Anas’s exposè done in 2019, in which he was captured receiving a bribe (envelope) from a supposed illegal miner.
At a press conference, the National Communications Director of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, mentioned Charles Bissue as a galamsey kingpin who needs to be dealt with after being captured on tape in an investigative report by Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye P.I. team published in February 2019.
But according to the former Western Regional Secretary for the ruling NPP, the exposé has been proven to be false by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.
He indicated in a statement that his former employee, Francis Owusu Akyaw confessed to sponsoring the exposé in 2019.
“The CID conducted a thorough investigation into this matter by inviting all actors captured in the video including the author, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
“It was uncovered that a former employee of the IMCIM, Francis Owusu Akyaw, whom I fired for unsatisfactory conduct sponsored the video recording of the documentary. Francis Owusu Akyaw admitted to the Police of having commissioned that recording,” portion of his statement stated.
He continued “the Special Prosecutor then, Martin Amidu also advanced his investigations, where I, the person sponsored by Owusu Akyaw to take the secrete recording, Anas and his lawyer, Kissi Adjabeng [now the Special Prosecutor] were duly interrogated.
“All evidence, as suggested by Anas and his team made no proof of me taking a bribe nor circumventing the process in the issuance of licenses and permits to miners, as in the case of ORR Resources.”
According to Mr. Bissue, the money he was seen taking in the exposè was a donation by the Ashanti regional chairman of the ruling NPP, Bernard Antwi Bosiako, better known as Chairman Wontumi for the party’s then Western Regional Organiser, Abdul Ganiyu
Meanwhile, the Tiger Eye P. I in a statement sighted on its Facebook wall on Friday, October 7, reacted by stating that the statement by Mr. Bissue is baseless and an attempt to cover his excesses by all means.
“Tiger Eye P. I has taken note of a series of lies and calumnies put out by the embattled secretary to the then Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Mr Charles Bissue, in his desperate attempt to defend his misconduct as captured in the documentary dubbed ‘Galamsey Fraud Part 1’ that was published in February 2019. The latest of his lies which have animated responses from Tiger Eye are contained in his press release dated 6 October 2022,” a portion reads.
According to the statement, “Tiger Eye’s position, conduct and approach to all investigations are based on truth, facts and audio-visual evidence.
“Tiger Eye affirms and maintains its investigations and conclusions in the Galamsey Fraud documentary about Mr. Charles Bissue and other staff at the dissolved IMCIM. Any claims or allegations to the contrary are false and without merit. Mr. Charles Bissue engaged in bribery and corruption and Tiger Eye uncovered this in the form of audio-visual evidence when undercover journalists posed as owners of an abandoned mining company.”
Source: Modern Ghana