Cecilia Dapaah
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has blocked the bank accounts of former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, as part of its investigations.
The accounts are said to hold significant quantities of cedi and dollar currency, and they were administratively frozen by the Special Prosecutor, who has already filed documents in court asking permission to continue the action.
Following the news that she was keeping more than $1 million in her home, the former minister is still being investigated by the OSP for corruption and corruption-related offences.
The OSP is also seeking to seize funds its officers reportedly recovered from her residence during a search, and a motion to that effect has been filed in court, DAILY GUIDE gathered.
AG Demands
Already, the Deputy Attorney General (AG), Alfred Tuah-Yeboah has called on the Ghana Police Service to conduct investigations to establish the ownership of the various sums of money dishonestly appropriated.
In a letter, the Deputy AG said it was important for the police to establish the ownership to avoid any duplicity in the charges.
“We note that you are investigating the acquisition of various properties by the 1st and 2nd accused persons, whose investigations border on money laundering.
“The advice rendered above implies that you should broaden the investigations on money laundering and other financial crimes to cover the complainants in order to establish the matters raised above,” the letter indicated.
The Deputy Minister for Justice said this was in light of the huge volumes of cash reported by the complainants to have been stolen from their home.
“It is also noted that Cecilia Abena Dapaah until recently was a high level public official whilst her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffuor, in his statement to the Police, indicated his profession as an architect,” the letter pointed out.
It said the police’s investigation into these matters is required to enable the Attorney General take a comprehensive decision on the case.
Charge Sheets
So far, the prosecution has amended the charge sheet in the case, and Kwaku Botwe, a 65-year-old trader and Patience Botwe’s father, has been dropped off the charge sheet.
Patience Botwe and Sarah Agyei, the two housemaids, face various counts of conspiracy to steal and substantive stealing charges, while Benjamin Sowah, Malik Dauda, Christiana Achab, Job Pomary, and Yahaya Sumaila face charges of dishonestly receiving various sums of stolen money.
Patience Botwe and Sarah Agyei have been charged with stealing a total of $1 million from the former minister, against whom the Attorney General has urged a money laundering investigation.
The two are also facing another charge of stealing €300,000, GH¢350,000 from Madam Dapaah, while Sarah Agyei is separately charged for stealing another $95,000 from the former minister.
Benjamin Sowah has been charged for dishonestly receiving GH¢180,000 from Patience Botwe, while Malik Dauda is accused of dishonesty receiving GH¢100,000 from Sarah Agyei and another GH¢5,000 from Patience Botwe.
Christiana Achab, on the other hand, is charged for dishonestly receiving a total of GH¢2.83 million from Patience Botwe.
The pleas of the accused persons are still yet to be taken, but Sarah Agyei and Christiana Achab were admitted to a GH¢1 million bail each with three sureties each to be justified because they are both lactating mothers.
The others have been remanded into lawful custody to reappear on August 22.
By Ernest Kofi Adu