Corruption-related offence:Cecilia Dapaah was cleared by OSP not AG- Mr Dame
This was in response to views held and expressed by the public attributing the said action to the Attorney General.
The Attorney General, Mr. Godfred Dame, has indicated that the former Sanitation Minister, Madam Cecilia Dapaah, was cleared of any corruption-related offence by the Office of the Special Prosecutor but not his outfit.
This was in response to views held and expressed by the public attributing the said action to the Attorney General.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Attorney General said that such claims were unfortunate since neither his outfit nor EOCO had ever investigated the former minister for corruption.
On January 25, 2024, the Office of Special Prosecutor (OSP) withdrew from ongoing cases against the former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
The cases, which included a motion for confirmation of the freezing of her assets and a criminal one that bordered on the failure of the former minister to declare her assets, were transferred to EOCO.
A release by the OSP noted that its investigation with the FBI showed predominantly that the case concerns money laundering, which does not fall within its mandate and is thus transferred accordingly to the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO).
However, in a three-page response letter to EOCO’s REQUEST FOR DIRECTION on the matter, the AG has advised that the OSP’s letter to EOCO did not disclose the basis for the suspension of the commission of the offence and thus made it difficult to ascertain its basis.
Further, the Attorney General’s letter, signed by Evelyn Keelson, Chief State Attorney, indicates that OSP did not disclose how the offence of money laundering and structuring might have been committed as alleged.
Also, the office observed that OSP failed to provide its findings or a copy of its report on the collaborative investigations conducted with the FBI and that it had to date not responded by EOCO to that effect.
Mr. Dame further asserted in the interview that the OSP’s referral to EOCO was restricted and that it was based on funds allegedly transported by Madam Dapaah from the United States to Ghana.
Furthermore, the AG said that his advice to EOCO does not refer to the money stolen by Madam Dapaah’s househelps or the ones frozen by the OSP.
