Cecilia Dapaah
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has been given seven days within which to return the GH¢2.73 million and $590,000 its officers seized from the Abelemkpe residence of former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah, who is under investigation for corruption and corruption-related offences.
This followed a conclusion by the court that based on the available facts before it, there was no justifiable basis for the authorised officers of the OSP to exercise the powers of seizure without a court warrant or order.
The court said the true ownership of the money found at the matrimonial home of the former minister has not been established, leaving the court to wonder the basis for the OSP concluding that the funds were tainted property when a directive by the Attorney General on the police to establish the ownership and source of funds were yet to conclude.
The court, presided over by Justice Edward Twum, also suspended an administrative freezing order placed on seven bank accounts of the former minister at Societe Generale and Prudential Bank Limited on grounds of containing alleged tainted funds.
It was the view of the court that the freezing of the account was done without any justifiable legal basis, particularly at a time when another state security institution is investigating Madam Dapaah in respect of the same subject matter for which the OSP froze her accounts.
“It is clear to this court that this action by the applicant was based on speculation and mere guesses, and at best reactionary to public sentiments and not based any criminal intelligence gathered as the applicant wants this court to believe,” the court held.
These were contained in the court’s ruling on an application filed by the OSP seeking the court to confirm the seizure of the funds and the administrative freezing of the bank accounts.
The OSP arrested Madam Dapaah on July 24, 2023, on suspicion of corruption and corruption-related offences after she and her husband reported huge sums of money was stolen from their home by their two housemaids.
The OSP then administratively froze the bank accounts of the former minister and filed an application before an Accra High Court seeking to confirm the seizure of the monies at her home as well as the freezing of the accounts pending further investigation into the true ownership and source of the monies.
Legal Arguments
Moving the motion yesterday, Dr. Isidore Tuffuor, an Attorney at the Office of the Special Prosecutor said so far, facts reveal that the ownership of the monies remain in dispute even though they were found in Madam Dapaah’s possession.
Regarding the freezing of the accounts, he said it is justified under Section 38(1) of Act 959 which gives power to the Special Prosecutor to freeze any property which is necessary to facilitate investigation, and the standard required at this stage is just a mere suspicion and there is no requirement to provide any grounds for the freezing of the accounts.
The application was opposed by Victoria Barth, counsel for Madam Dapaah, who argued that the application for confirmation of the seizure was filed outside the seven days provided by the Act 959 which set up the Office of the Special Prosecutor, as the seizure was done on July 24, 2023 and the application was filed on August 8.
She also contended that the OSP failed to satisfy the conditions precedent set out under Section 40 of Act 959 for applying for the confirmation of freezing order against the bank accounts, as she is neither being investigated for nor charged with any identifiable offence known to the laws of Ghana.
Again, she argued that the funds found in Madam Dapaah’s bank accounts were funds that were legally acquired long before she became a Minister of State, and included earnings from various past employments, pension and investments, among other sources which cannot be tainted property.
Ruling
Justice Twum, in his ruling, said by bringing the application beyond the mandatory seven days, the OSP sought to invoke a jurisdiction the court is not seized with, and by so doing, they could not purport to do something it lacks jurisdiction to do.
“This court agrees with the respondent that this court lacks the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the application with regards to the confirmation of the seizure pursuant to Section 32(1) of Act 959 in view of the glaring breach of Section 32(2) of the Act by the applicant (OSP),” the court held.
He added that, “It appears to this court that if the respondent and her spouse had intended to conceal, destroy or dissipate the alleged tainted property from July 5, 2023, when the facts became public knowledge, they would have done so.”
On the application for the confirmation of the freezing order, Justice Twum held that it appeared to the court that the OSP’s action was based on the Attorney General’s directive on the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service to broaden the investigation to cover money laundering and other financial crimes, but the said investigation has not concluded to establish any culpability against the respondent and her spouse.
“From the records and the evidence before this court, the applicant has not been able to provide any cogent or sufficient reasons as to why the accounts of the respondent were frozen or why this court should confirm the freezing except to speculate that the respondent is being investigated for corruption or corruption-related offences, a fact which the respondent has denied in her affidavit in opposition,” the court added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak