Cecilia Dapaah
Two housemaids of Cecilia Dapaah, former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, together with five others, are struggling to meet the terms of the bail granted them by a High Court in Accra.
The seven who are standing trial over huge sums of money stolen from the former minister’s home were all granted bail but none has been able to execute the terms, and are therefore, still in lawful custody.
Patience Botwe and Sarah Agyei, the two housemaids have been charged for conspiring and stealing a total of $410,000, €300,000 and GH¢350,000 from the former employers, leading to Madam Dapaah resigning from her position following public outcry.
Benjamin Sowah, Malik Dauda, Christiana Achab, Job Pomary and Yahaya Sumaila, are facing charges of dishonestly receiving a total of GH¢4,010,000 and $14,000 from the housemaids.
Sarah Agyei is again accused of stealing assorted jewelries totaling $95,000 belonging to the former minister, bringing the total to $505,000 cash and property stolen from the former minister and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffuor.
All the seven have also been charged for laundering the various sums of monies which they used in purchasing properties knowing that the monies were proceeds of crime.
They were all granted a bail of GH¢750,000 each with two sureties each, one of whom must be justified with a landed property.
One of the sureties each, according to the court, must be resident in the Greater Accra Region and must be gainfully employed.
The court further ruled that the residence of the accused and sureties must be inspected and known to the case investigator who is required to look for them when they run away.
But none of the accused person have been able to execute the bail condition and were being kept in the custody of the police, who brought them to court yesterday.
Meanwhile, the court presided over by Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, has given the Office of the Attorney General another opportunity to file disclosures and witness statements.
Akosua Agyepomaa Agyemang, an Assistant State Attorney, had told the court the prosecution was not able to file its disclosure as directed by the court on November 10, 2023.
She, therefore, prayed for an adjournment to enable them file the disclosures and witness statement.
Yaw Dankwa and the defence lawyers opposed the request, indicating that the prosecution needed to produce more explanation rather than just saying they were not able to file their disclosures and witness statements.
Justice Simmons, after listening to the parties, said she was obliged to grant the prosecution one last adjournment to afford them the time to file their disclosures and witness statements.
She said the prosecution could file those that are available if not all, “so that the case will go on bearing in mind that, the accused persons thought on bail are still in lawful custody.”
She, therefore, gave the prosecution up to January 10, 2024 to file the disclosures and witness statements while adjourning the case to January 16, 2024.
The discovery of properties purchased by the accused persons includes an 11-unit chamber and hall self-contain house purchased at the cost of GH¢800,000 at Budumburam by Christiana Achab.
Christiana Achab, according to court documents, also purchased a three-bedroom house at Aplaku at the sum of GH¢300,000 for Patience Botwe.
She and her husband Job Pomary also purchased a four-bedroom apartment at Kokrobite at the cost of GH¢280,000 for herself, while she also invited another suspect, Yahaya Sumaila from Tamale in the Northern Region to Accra and purchased another three-bedroom apartment at Amrahia at the cost of GH¢850,000 in his name from an amount given to her by Patience Botwe.
Christiana Achab, according to prosecuting documents, also purchased two Honda Acura vehicles at the cost of GH¢300,000 each and registered them in the name of Franklin Sarakpo, her son who is on the run.
The price of a three-bedroom mansion built by Sarah Agyei, at Budumburam was not specified.
They also bought different vehicles costing a total of GH¢1.58 million, while two properties which were rented in Tamale cost a total of GH¢225,000.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak