Court strikes out OSP's petition to dismiss Charles Bissue's judicial review application

An Accra Human Rights Court has dismissed the plea by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to dismiss Charles Bissue's judicial review application.

The court in its ruling stated that the application filed by Charles Bissue, the former secretary of the Inter Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining has to be heard.

This comes after the special prosecutor petitioned the court to throw out the judicial review application filed by Charles Bissue.

He [Charles Bissue] accused the OSP of having an arrest warrant for him and for that matter, he wants the court to have it quashed.

Also, he is seeking an order from the Court to prevent the OSP from declaring him a wanted man. The ruling was handed down by Justice Nicholas Mensah Abodakpi, the presiding judge.

The lead counsel for the OSP, Seth Oppong on an oral submission argued that the withdrawal of the application was informed by the advice of the court of the need to officially file a reply to the preliminary objections as raised by counsel for the respondent.

He thus prayed the court to grant them leave to file the necessary process.

However, the legal representation of Charles Bissue, Baffour Awuah, argued that the withdrawal of the motion by the OSP ought to be made formally rather than an oral submission.

The Presiding judge, Justice Abodakpi indicated he would admit the oral submission, for the OSP to file its affidavit in response to the instant application that was filed by the applicant.

Earlier, Charles Bissue filed several lawsuits against the OSP in an attempt to halt investigations and prosecutions against him. However, he has dropped all but two of these cases, including the current matter.

Background:

The OSP commenced investigations into alleged corruption and corruption-related offences in connection with illegal small-scale mining popularly known as galamsey.

According to the OSP, the investigation also targets some individuals and private companies including the secretary of the IMCIM, Charles Bissue and Akonta Mining Company Limited belonging to the New Patriotic Party’s Regional Chairman for Ashanti Region, Bernard Antwi Boasiako alias Wontumi.

The OSP previously arrested Charles Bissue and released him on the same day on bail.

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