Bissue case: Needless exoneration – Tiger Eye tells Police

Tiger Eye P.I has insisted the former secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Committee against Illegal Mining Charles Bissue has not been exonerated of corruption-related offences despite being cleared by the police.

The CID cleared Mr. Bissue of any wrongdoing despite the video evidence submitted by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas to back his claims of corruption and abuse of office.

“Mr. Bissue was not found to be culpable of any offense, a parallel investigation by the office of Special Prosecutor is however still ongoing,” the Graphic quoted the police report as saying.

The Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has also expressed reservations over the decision of the Police CID to probe the corruption allegations leveled against the secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Committee against Illegal Mining Charles Bissue.

“The point is, as far as I am concerned, the police have no jurisdiction in the matter, and no minister can refer cases which belong to me to them. The President said he was appointing me so that there won’t be political interference, so, why will a minister bypass me and refer a case to the police?

“My investigators will handle it. When they are ready, they will give the dockets to us as prosecutors, we’ll assess it and we’ll make a decision. And then I’ll see who will stop me,” he wrote.

Reacting to the police purported exoneration, Tiger Eye said: “Tiger Eye PI understands the police to be saying that it does not have the required evidence which is properly before the Office of the Special Prosecutor and so it is only fair that the police discontinue with its work and focus on other equally important tasks including finding the killers of Ahmed Hussein Suale, a journalist with Tiger Eye P.I., who was murdered in cold blood in January 2019 as well as the missing Takoradi girls and other seemingly cold case files. Tiger Eye P.I. assures the Ghana Police Service of its continuous support to uncover some of these crimes.

Tiger Eye P.I. wishes to assure the public that is it fully cooperating with the Office of the Special Prosecutor.”

Below is the full statement

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

MR BISSUE & CO NOT EXONERATED-CASE UNDER REVIEW

Accra, 22 July 2019

Tiger Eye P.I. has become aware of a purported statement from the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service which suggests that the Police is no longer interested in investigating the “Galamsey Fraud Part 1” undercover investigations undertaken by Tiger Eye P.I.

Although it is framed in language suggestive of the exoneration of Mr Charles Bissue and Co of fraud and abuse of office, Tiger Eye P.I. welcomes the decision of the Police to remove itself from the investigations. This is because the involvement of the Ghana Police Service in the said investigation has been nothing but needlessly duplicitous and superfluous and a total waste of resources.

In February 2019, a petition was sent to the Office of the Special Prosecutor just at the same time as the documentary was published. Our lawyers deemed the Office of the Special Prosecutor most suitable to investigate this matter, which also involves politically exposed persons. Tiger Eye P.I. did not send a petition to the Ghana Police Service and it has not participated in any purported investigation by the Service. The Ghana Police Service has conducted itself in this matter as an unhappy unsolicited busybody with no real substance to inform a decision. The Office of the Special Prosecutor is fully seized with the matter and it is still conducting its investigations.

Tiger Eye PI understands the police to be saying that it does not have the required evidence which is properly before the Office of the Special Prosecutor and so it is only fair that the police discontinue with its work and focus on other equally important tasks including finding the killers of Ahmed Hussein Suale, a journalist with Tiger Eye P.I., who was murdered in cold blood in January 2019 as well as the missing Takoradi girls and other seemingly cold case files. Tiger Eye P.I. assures the Ghana Police Service of its continuous support to uncover some of these crimes.

Tiger Eye P.I. wishes to assure the public that is it fully cooperating with the Office of the Special Prosecutor. The last of such cooperation was on Friday 19 July 2019 when the Office of the Special Prosecutor provided Tiger Eye P.I. with an additional witness statement form.

So far as we are concerned, the matter is still under investigation and we await the final outcome of the process by the Office of the Special Prosecutor. We are grateful to the Ghana Police Service for graciously bowing out of the matter since its involvement has been an unhelpful distraction.

Signed

Tiger Eye P.I.