The former Secretary of the defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Charles Bissue has suffered a setback in his bid to have corruption charges against him and two others dismissed after a court rejected his grounds for challenging the prosecution.
Bissue, Raphael Mensah and Dr Naa Dedei Tagoe are facing nine counts involving alleged corruption and abuse of public office.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), in an update on the case posted on Facebook on Thursday, October 29, said the court did not agree to the reasons for which Charles Bissue sought the case to be dismissed.
Charles Bissue had challenged the prosecution on three grounds: that an earlier case against him remained pending, that the police had cleared him, and that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) lacked the authority to investigate cases that had not been referred to it by the police.
On the claim that an earlier case remained pending, the court requested the original records of the previous proceedings.
The records, dated July 3, 2025, indicated that the case had been withdrawn and struck out.
However, Mr Bissue’s lawyer, Augustine Obour, disputed the records, telling the court he could not recall appearing in court on that date or seeing one of the accused persons.
The judge, however, held that the lawyer’s inability to remember the proceedings was not sufficient reason to reject official court records.
Mr Obour subsequently withdrew his challenge and asked the court to accept the records.
The court ultimately dismissed Mr Bissue’s grounds for challenging the prosecution, describing them as frivolous.
Mr Bissue has pursued multiple legal challenges to the investigation and prosecution since 2023.
