{"id":600153,"date":"2019-03-18T20:35:17","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T20:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"
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Journalist Abdul Kweku Baako says the presidency must resist the temptation protect members of government caught up in alleged corrupt conduct documented\u00a0by private investigations company TigerEye PI.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am telling the President, they should wake up\u201d, he said while drawing attention to what he observed are attempts within government to shield the secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCM) who has been implicated in corruption investigations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The secretary, Charles Cromwell Bissue, was captured in a video taking monies from a Tiger Eye operative posing as a businessman.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Charles Bissue as captured in the Tiger Eye\u00a0video titled ‘Galamsey Fraud Part 1’<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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Charles Bissiu allegedly took 35,000 cedis in the course of three meeting to\u00a0circumvent measures to curb illegal mining.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Bissiu has been accused by Anas of abusing his office, breaching his fiduciary duties, engaging in bribery and corruption which he said were uncovered by way of hard facts, captured on audio\/visual recording, and electronic correspondence.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Since the broadcast of the investigative video on <\/span>February 27, 2019<\/span><\/span>, Bissiu who is primarily a presidential staffer has announced, he has stepped aside as secretary to the IMCM. He has denied allegations and submitted to police investigations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tiger Eye PI, the investigative vehicle formed and used by award-winning journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas has petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigative allegations of bribery and corruption.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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He has also supplied raw footage of the investigations to the OSP. Despite ongoing investigations at OSP, the IMCM has asked the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service\u00a0to investigate the allegations of corruption and officials implicated in the video.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The implicated secretary has also taken to social media asking <\/span>Tiger Eye PI and Anas Aremeyaw Anas to provide the CID with the \u2018raw unedited footages\u2019.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some pro-NPP sections on social media have also shared posts suggesting Anas Aremeyaw Anas has failed to supply government with raw tapes even though Information Minister has said government has made no such request.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah had said, following the broadcast of the documentary, that government would an investigation into the revelations of the documentary. But his press conference on the latest investigations was misreported.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kweku Baako, irked by happenings, described IMCM\u2019s request for CID investigations \u201cabsolute nonsense\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo:Prof. Frimpong Boateng is chairman of the Inter-Ministrial Committee on Illegal Mining<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhy do we want to duplicate issues?\u201d, he charged\u00a0on Asempa FM\u2019s \u2018Ekosii Sen\u2019 Monday and questioned the motive of the IMCM in \u201cignoring\u201d the Office of the Special Prosecutor.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are they ignoring where the complainant has gone to? Is there a certain motive?\u201d, he said and noted the tactic of the IMCM is to \u2018choose the territory to have the battle\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are they all consciously ignoring that option? Why do you ignore the OSP and choose the CID\u201d? he <\/span>wondered and indicated he expected the illegal mining committee to first and foremost deal with the OSP.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat stopped the IMMC from writing to the SP? \u201cWhy not copy the SP?\u201d, he repeated questions, expressing disappointment with the IMCM.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He accused the Committee of being part of the problem it is supposed to address and fired at the committee for playing games which \u201cdon\u2019t help government\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Baako called the CID investigations \u201ca waste of time\u201d and the IMCM invitation to the CID to investigate the matter a \u201cdisrespect to the process that has been initiated\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI advise this government, there is no need sometimes to attract needless collateral damage when individuals you appoint misbehave. Let them fight their own fight\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kweku Baako expressed regret that some members of government\u2019s\u00a0social media team are trying to undermine Anas\u2019s efforts at punishing implicated officials.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n