The former Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Charles Bissue, has said that he is not on the run.
He explained that the decision by the Office of the Special Prosecutor to declare him Wanted comes to him as a shock.
Speaking to GhanaWeb in a phone interview following the Wanted notice made by the OSP, Charles Bissue said he has nothing to hide and that he will surely present himself at the investigator’s office.
“I’m shocked by it because I wasn’t in Accra and I knew they had invited me and there are other issues going on, and all that, but then, you know in the past, I’ve been to the BNI, to the CID, and even the Special Prosecutor’s Office when Martin Amidu was there, I went there.
“So, it wasn’t as if I was avoiding attending that interview,” he explained.
Explaining why he has not been able to honour the invitation by the OSP yet, Charles Bissue said it is a simple case of not immediately being in Accra.
He stressed that it comes to him as a shock, especially when the OSP’s declaration of him as Wanted paints a picture as though he is a criminal or a fugitive.
“What happened is that I was out of Accra, so my lawyers have written to them that I will come and then we heard of the arrest warrant. Basically, I haven’t gone anywhere. I’m in Ghana and I’ll go to the Special Prosecutor’s office at some point when I return to Accra, but to declare me Wanted, I don’t know why, as if I’m a fugitive… but the whole thing is making it look like I’m a criminal,” he stated.
Charles Bissue stressed that he is not on the run and that he is ready to provide all the necessary information the Office of the Special Prosecutor would need to help with its work.
He assured the OSP that he would definitely show up at their offices to help with their work.
“Visiting all these agencies and all that, the Ghanaian perception is that the fact that you go to these places means that you are a criminal. No. Every information I have, I’ll volunteer in the interest of the country so, I haven’t run away anywhere. I’m within the country, and even when I was out of the jurisdiction last year, I have so many visas, I could have stayed out of the country if I had anything to hide.
“I am in the jurisdiction, and I’ll attend the Special Prosecution’s office at some point to answer their questions,” he added.
