Galamsey fraud: CID exonerates Bissue

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has cleared Mr Charles Cromwell Nanabanyin Onuawonto Bissue, a presidential staffer and former Secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, of corruption.

This was after a four-month investigation following allegations by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas in an illegal mining documentary which depicted Mr Bissue collecting various sums of money to allegedly bend the laws for some small-scale miners.

Mr Bissue was alleged to have taken a GHS35,000 bribe to help a make-believe mining firm ORR Resource Enterprise, circumvent all the necessary protocols pertaining to small-scale mining following the lifting of the ban imposed on such mining by the government.

In Anas' undercover work titled Galamsey Fraud, Mr Bissue is captured on video issuing out orders to some subordinates on the phone to fast-track ORR’s acquisition of a pass despite the phoney company’s unworthiness.

However, the CID report said the documentary is not a true reflection of what transpired between Mr Bissue and the representatives of the said ORR Resource Enterprise, the Daily Graphic reported on Monday.

Anas was also accused of failing to cooperate with the CID and failing to release the unedited videos of the incident as requested by the CID.