The High Court has convicted Thomas Andy Owusu, who was charged together with former Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining Charles Bissue for corruption related offences linked to illegal mining. He was convicted on his own plea after the Court accepted a plea agreement between him and the Office of the Special Prosecutor, OSP.
The court ordered Mr Owusu is to pay a fine of six thousand cedis and another GHC200,000 thousand cedis as restitution to the state.
According to the plea agreement, Thomas Andy Owusu, will pay a fine of 500 penalty units and restitution of GHS 200,000 to the state for bribring a public officer with GHS 15,000. Following his conviction, the court struck out two additional charges – Corruption of a Public Officer and Accepting Bribe to Influence a Public Officer.
The Court however struck out two charges of Corruption of a Public Officer and Accepting Bribe to Influence a Public Officer.
Mr Owusu and Mr Bissue were facing 15 counts of corruption by a public officer and using public office for personal benefit, contrary to section 179C(b) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
Mr Owusu was accused of facilitating payment of money to Mr. Bissue and charged with various counts of corruption of a public officer and accepting bribe to influence a public officer.
The OSP claims Mr Bissue used his office as Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining to collect 35 thousand cedis from one Benjamin Adjapong for the purpose of circumventing established requirements of his organization in relation to the verification of documents for renewal of mining license.
The Criminal proceedings were initiated against the two following a 2019 investigation by Tiger Eye Pl, which allegedly implicated them in facilitating illegal mining licences through bribery thereby bypassing official processes.
The trial Court accepted a plea agreement entered between Andy Owusu and the OSP, under section 71 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).
Trial of Mr Bissue will however continue at the High Court on June 10 with Case Management Conference.
