Lawyer for Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ Tiger Eye P.I., Sammy Darko, says the Criminal Investigations Department should not have investigated corruption claims levelled against the former Secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, Charles Bissue especially when his outfit had petitioned the Special Prosecutor over the matter.
According to him, the police should have focused on some unresolved cases before them instead of delving into the matter which is being probed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
On Citi TV’s The Point of View, Mr. Darko cited the murder of Tiger Eye P.I. journalist, Ahmed Hussein Suale and the missing Takoradi girls as some of the unresolved cases the CID could prioritize.
“The police CID, for want of a better word, is overburdened. For instance, the gruesome murder of Ahmed Hussein Suale; the police have to investigate that. We have supplied them with all the information they need including a tape of a suspect. All these, they have on their hands. They need to investigate. The Takoradi girls [also]. They have so many matters to investigate.”
Mr. Darko’s comments on the matter come after the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, condemned interference in his office’s investigation of Mr. Bissue after being petitioned by Tiger Eye P.I.
In a documentary released by Tiger Eye PI, Mr. Bissue was seen taking money to help an unlicensed company carry out mining operations.
But the CID exonerated Mr. Bissue of the corruption claims after a separate investigation which Tiger Eye P.I. condemned.
Mr. Darko insisted that the Special Prosecutor was the only body “properly mandated to investigate politically exposed persons.”
He said Tiger Eye P.I. would have petitioned the CID if only Mr. Bissue was saddled with the corruption allegations.
“But we realised that there were other people like Thomas Andy Owusu, who is not a public officer… he is linked to the Ashanti Regional NPP chairman.”
“There are people who are not public officers but who have engaged in corruption. In that matter, the police cannot investigate. The OSP is the best-suited person to investigate,” Mr. Darko said.
Also on The Point of View, Dr. Kojo Asante, Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) said the CID shouldn’t have gone into the case when it was warned by Amidu.
“When this matter came up and Mr. Amidu raised the issue of parallel investigations, I think the CID should have yielded.”
Beyond that Dr. Asante said there were “a lot of missed opportunities” on the part of the police.
“They could have talked to Mr.Amidu and said let’s combine our resources so that we get a definite conclusion to the matter,” he suggested.
