Charles Bissue queries, “What documents are you using in your investigation of me?” OSP

Charles Bissue, the former secretary of the defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), has asked the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for copies of the documents that the office is using to look into his alleged involvement in the ongoing corruption case.

On Monday, June 12, 2023, as reported by 3news.com, he submitted this plea through his legal representative, who appeared on his behalf in an Accra High Court presided over by Olivia Obeng Owusu.

Charles Bissue requested an injunction preventing the OSP from looking into him further in February 2023, alleging violations of human rights.

Following the release of a documentary by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyabeng, designated Charles Bissue, who was at the time Secretary of the disbanded IMCIM, as a person of interest.

Nana Adjei Awuah, the principal counsel for Charles Bissue, said in court that he would not have been able to make his petitions for the injunction if the OSP hadn’t provided the High Court with the data.

“All relevant facts and evidence must be made available to the court in order to help it administer justice.

The need for the material we are seeking was made clear by an article written by the former Special Prosecutor after we filed our lawsuit and application for an injunction. Not that we were unaware of it from the beginning and neglected to bring it up. Which paper are we discussing here? It is the original paper that launched the entire inquiry.

“This is the paperwork that authorised the Special Prosecutor to look into the petitioner. In other words, I mean no disrespect, but without that petition, he wouldn’t even be in court,” he is reported to have added.

However, Dr. Tuffour, who represented the OSP, countered the argument made by Charles Bissue’s attorney by claiming that there is no relationship whatsoever between the two papers [referring to the IMCIM report and the previous injunction it issued].

“The basis for this request for an injunction is the statement of claim. The applicant’s pleadings, which informed the injunction, establish the facts of his case. There is not a single mention of the document he wants the first defendant to present in his pleadings.

“Following the filing of his lawsuit, he discovers some further facts that they wish to include in it, and they know what to do. There is no way to submit a motion to produce. Dr. Tuffuor contended that there isn’t actually anything connecting the two moves.

As a result of Charles Bissue’s attorney informing the court that he is ill, the case has been postponed until Tuesday, July 4, 2023.

As part of its investigations into the report of the IMCIM by Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the former minister of environment, science, technology, and innovation, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), Charles Bissue is being looked at.