Every person who is an officer of the IMCIM is my target – Special Prosecutor

In the midst of the ongoing investigations on the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), the Special Prosecutor on Newsfile said already, many more persons are going to appear before them and every person who is an officer of the IMCIM is my target. The number of people still to appear before us may run into the hundreds.

He added that, this is an issue that is very dear to the nation and if people are paying attention, he is very glad — and the OSP is fighting to see the end of it because we want galamsey menace resolved. The law has mandated us to investigate corruption and corruption related activities and for matter, he is investigating only an aspect of the IMCIM not the entire dealings of the committee.

The issues of galamsey is such a pain to the nation and at some point the President of the country instituted a committee called Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) to deal with the menace and due to the problems associated with it, the committee was dissolved and the problems were still live and all over the place and in the case of the Office of the Special Prosecutor — there has been cases of allegation against these officers who were composed of the committee.

In reiteration, the Special Prosecutor said, if there are allegations of some of the officers of the IMCIM;

Not being able to account for excavators seized during the galamsey operations, pocketing nuggets of golds seized during the operation, mismanaging the resources of the committee, the OSP will not sleep over it and will go after them, he said.

Ghanaians should note that, at the office of the special prosecutor, no one is a saint and the OSP looks at everyone at the same way, we don’t have the luxury to treat people as saints and people should not cloak themselves with immunity.

Background

The office of the special prosecutor is investigating the dealings of the IMCIM which Prof. Frimpong Boanteng spearheaded.

The investigation covers the following;

1. Ghc 300 Million budgetory allocation to the IMCIM.
2. NUmber of excavators seized under the IMCIM operation.
3. Gold seized during galamsey operations.
4. Cars and other equipment acquired for the fight against galamsey.