Godfred Yeboah Dame
The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has refuted claims that his office has discontinued investigations into alleged corruption and corruption-related offences against former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah.
Instead, he said it was the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) that cleared the former minister of any act of corruption and corruption-related activities and subsequently discontinued its investigation against her.
Mr. Dame indicated that the OSP per a letter indicated that no clear indications of corruption was found in its investigations against her, the reason the OSP referred the matter to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to investigate suspected money laundering and structuring.
“The record must reflect the point that the OSP properly seized with the mandate to investigate corruption and corruption-related offences, after conducting an elaborate enquiry cleared Madam Cecilia Dapaah of corruption,” Mr. Dame stated on Newfile.
He was responding to reactions from the general public and some civil society organisations (CSOs), including Centre for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD) to the AG’s office advice to EOCO not to pursue a money laundering probe into Madam Dapaah.
The Office of the Attorney General returned the OSP’s docket on Madam Dapaah, which called on EOCO to investigate her for money laundering and structuring.
According to a document emanating from the AG’s office, the OSP’s docket did not provide sufficient information regarding its investigations into the former minister that show suspicion of the offence of money laundering and structuring.
The AG’s office, in a response signed by Evelyn Keelson, a Chief State Attorney, observed that the OSP did not place a copy of its report on investigations conducted by that outfit on the docket submitted to EOCO.
It also observed that the OSP’s letter to EOCO also did not disclose the basis for the suspicion of the commission of the offence of money laundering and structuring.
“It is thus difficult to ascertain the basis for the OSP’s suspicion of the commission of the offence of money laundering and structuring by the suspects,” parts of the response indicated.
AG Clarifies
But this has drawn concern from many who claim that it was a deliberate move to clear another high profile member of society of any wrong doing.
Mr. Dame, in his reaction, pointed out that his office never investigated Madam Dapaah for corruption or corruption-related offences hence could not clear her of same.
He said it was the Office of the Special Prosecutor that cleared her of those allegations, pointing to the OSP’s press release which states that, “After nearly seven months of extensive investigation by the OSP and a parallel inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States, no direct and immediate evidence of corruption has been found in the seized funds and frozen bank accounts linked to Ms. Dapaah and her associates.”
Mr. Dame said a portion of the investigation was entrusted to the FBI due to allegation of involvement of transfer of funds from the United States to Ghana.
“I think that this clearly settles the issue. If so far as funds located in Madam Dapaah’s house were concerned, in so far as even lodgment into her accounts were concerned locally, and so far as the sums that were seized by the OSP were concerned, there were no direct or immediate evidence of corruption, and that is not me stating this, this is the Special Prosecutor himself clearing Madam Cecilia Dapaah,” the Attorney General pointed out.
He further indicated that, “the record must reflect the point that the OSP properly seized with the mandate to investigate corruption and corruption-related offences, after conducting an elaborate enquiry cleared Madam Cecilia Dapaah of corruption.”
“So why is he now trying to suggest that the Attorney General now has to clear anybody of corruption?” he inquired.
Mr. Dame also clarified that “EOCO never investigated for corruption, the Attorney General never investigated for corruption, it is the OSP itself which conducted seven months of extensive investigations into it and four months of what they describe as collaborative investigation with the FBI and came to that conclusion.”
“And I am saying that the public must understand clearly that the OSP only gave a narrow remit to EOCO to investigate for money laundering in respect of the funds that were allegedly transferred into the country,” the Attorney General added.
Justifying why he said the OSP’s allegation of possible existence of money laundering was baseless, Mr. Dame said it was because the OSP alluded to collaborative investigations with the FBI based on which it came by transfers from other jurisdictions into Ghana, and that clearly would require a proper ascertainment of that record.
“So EOCO in pursuance of that wrote to OSP asking for a copy of that report, EOCO did not receive any reply till date, and that was way back on February 1 (2024),” the Attorney General added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak