Cecilia Dapaah cleared by OSP not AG— Attorney-General
Attorney-General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, says the former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, was cleared of any corruption-related offence by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and not the A-G’s Office.
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He made the clarification in an interview with the Daily Graphic following wide and varied concerns about an advice he offered to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on the subject.
He had advised EOCO not to continue the probe into the possibility of money laundering in relation to large sums found on the premises of Ms Dapaah.
Indeed, in a letter dated January 25, 2024, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) wrote to the EOCO 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”.
The OSP effectively handed over the case to EOCO, ending the drama-filled legal processes between the OSP and the former Sanitation Minister.
But EOCO had sought the opinion of the A-G on the matter, and it was on that basis that the Office of the A-G wrote back to EOCO, referring to the OSP’s findings regarding possibility of corruption in the affairs of Ms Dapaah.
In his advice to EOCO, the A-G stated that the request from the OSP to EOCO for Cecilia Dapaah to be investigated for money laundering was without basis.
No predicated offence14
The A-G said the investigations by the OSP did not prove a predicated offence, which could form the basis for a money laundering investigation. The advice further noted that the OSP did not provide a copy of its collaborative investigations with the FBI, which formed the basis for its decision to transfer the case to EOCO.
Mr Dame said if any institution cleared the former minister, it was the OSP rather than the A-G’s Office. “It must be stated that it was the OSP, a body with the mandate to investigate corruption and corruption-related offences, that cleared Cecilia Dapaah of corruption as I have stated elsewhere. The records must reflect this,” he said.
He said claims that the A-G’s Office had cleared the former minister of corruption were unfortunate and misguided. He said neither EOCO nor the A-G’s Office had ever investigated Ms Dapaah for corruption, and that it was the OSP itself which brought conclusion to months of investigations into the matter through its own letter to EOCO.
He further justified his advice to EOCO not to probe Ms Dapaah for money laundering, stating that the OSP’s referral to the former Sanitation Minister was restricted in scope. He said the referral letter from the OSP to EOCO suggested that the request bordered on funds alleged to have been transported by the former minister from the United States to Ghana.
He said the referral letter did not include moneys retrieved from the house of Ms Dapaah by officials of the OSP, nor moneys in her bank accounts that were previously frozen or those allegedly stolen by her house helps.