Former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng made accusations that the firebrand of the New Patriotic Party interfered with the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), but lead partner at Africa Legal Associates Gabby Asare Otchere Darko has refuted these claims.
In an exclusive interview with Vivian Kai Lokko of Citi TV/Citi FM, Otchere Darko said that the former Minister's charges are false for reasons he alone knows.
According to Otchere Darko, the ex-minister was only contacted once, when a client of his legal company had problems with personnel from the government's GalamSTOP operation.
He added that despite the fact that Heritage Imperial Limited had all the necessary licences to carry out their work, they were accused of searching for gold and had their equipment impounded, which prompted him to step in.
"Even though Heritage had a mining exploration permit issued in July 2019, a forest entry permit issued in November 2018, and an EPA permit, the soldiers went and took the company's equipment. I called the soldiers and was told that the Minister had sanctioned them. I then asked the Minister what the problem was with the equipment seizures, and the Minister responded that they were prospecting rather than exploring. That was the topic of our conversation.
Otchere Darko stated that it is sad that Professor Frimpong-Boateng had to misinterpret their conversation as an attempt to interfere with the activities of the IMCIM.
As seen in the satellite photos below, Heritage Imperial Limited is a corporation that is destroying the Kobro and Apaprama Forest Reserves as well as polluting and changing the course of the River Offin. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, the company's lawyer, called to let me know this.