OSP suspects money laundering and structuring in Cecilia Dapaah case, transfers to EOCO
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) says after investigations, it has found strong indications of money laundering and structuring in the financial affairs and assets of former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
The OSP in a press release copied to Ghana Business News says: “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.”
It stated that the investigation identified strong indications of “suspected money laundering and structuring.”
“While the OSP acknowledges these suspected offences, they do not fall directly within the mandate of the Office. By law, the office cannot investigate, prosecute nor recover proceeds of crime except those that fall within corruption and corruption related offences as defined under section 79 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959),” it added.
The OSP has therefore, officially transferred the investigation into the financial affairs and assets of the former Minister, along with her associates, to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), it said in the release.
The OSP says it is doing so, in compliance with section 3 of Act 959, which mandates the OSP to cooperate and coordinate with other law enforcement agencies.
EOCO is expected to do further investigations into the matter.
“In August 2023, the OSP acted by freezing Ms. Dapaah’s bank accounts and confiscating $590,000 and GH¢2.73 million from her residence after news of theft of substantial amount of cash in cedis and foreign currencies went viral. Until today, the Office has been in court to confirm the frozen bank accounts and confirm the seized monies for longer periods pending outcome of investigations. A portion of the inquiry was entrusted to the FBI due to allegations suggesting involvement of transfer of funds from the United States,” the OSP said.
The OSP started the investigation following a complaint filed by Ms. Dapaah and her husband, Mr. Osei-Kufour to the police against certain individuals on an allegation of the theft of large sums of money from the residence of the complainants.
At the time the couple made the complaints to the police, Ms. Dapaah was the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources. She resigned when the matter caught public attention.
The police subsequently arrested four persons on various counts of theft and proceeded with criminal proceedings in the Circuit Court, Accra against them.
The OSP recounts that according to the charges, between July and October 2022 the accused persons allegedly stole valuable items from the residence of Ms. Dapaah and Mr. Osei-Kufour at Abelemkpe, Accra – including cash amounts of $1,000,000.00 and €300,000.00.
It added that the initial complaint to the police recounted that $800,000.00 of the amount reportedly stolen from the residence belonged to Ms. Dapaah’s deceased brother and GH₵300,000.00 was contribution towards Ms. Dapaah’s mother’s funeral which was contained in a box. There was no indication as to the source of the remainder of $200,000.00 and €300,000.00, it said.
It states that on the basis of the Case No. D4/155/2023 The Republic v. Patience Botwe & Three Ors. and the totality of the criminal intelligence gathered by the Office and that large sums of money were physically stashed at the residences of Ms. Dapaah and Mr. Osei Kufour, the Special Prosecutor directed full investigation into corruption and corruption-related offences involving the respondent (in accordance with regulation 6 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374)) as the circumstances reasonably indicated to the Office that the source of the cash sums stated as belonging to Ms. Dapaah (a public officer at the time) on the charge sheet in D4/155/2023 The Republic v. Patience Botwe & Three Ors. was suspicious and that the cash sums were suspected tainted property as being proceeds from corruption and corruption-related offences.
On July 24, 2023, the Office placed Ms. Dapaah under arrest on charges of corruption and corruption-related offences. The Office subsequently conducted searches in three residential properties associated with Ms. Dapaah and Mr. Osei-Kufour at Cantonments, Abelemkpe and Tesano in Accra.
The searches, which were carried out over a period of two weeks, led to the discovery of the cash sums of $590,000.00 and GH₵2,730,000.00. Ms. Dapaah and Mr. Osei-Kufuor could not readily provide a reasonable explanation as to the sources of the cash sums.
“Authorized officers of the Office seized the discovered cash sums on reasonable grounds that they were suspected tainted property in accordance with section 32(1) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) as it was necessary to exercise the power of seizure to prevent concealment of the cash sums,” the OSP said.
The Special Prosecutor, said considering it necessary to facilitate the investigations, it issued a freezing order against the bank accounts and investments of Ms. Dapaah domiciled at Prudential Bank Limited and Societe Generale Ghana.
“Upon the refusal by the High Court to confirm the freezing and seizure orders in August 2023, the Office re-seized the cash sums and re-froze the bank accounts and investments and applied to the court again for confirmation in FT0074/2023 The Special Prosecutor v. Cecilia Abena Dapaah & Daniel Osei-Kufour.
Extensive investigation was conducted in-country involving twenty persons and three state institutions, and especially in the Ashanti Region to establish the financial standing of Ms. Dapaah’s deceased brother during his lifetime and at the time of his death.
From October 2023, the investigation became cross-border and transboundary upon the claim by the persons of interest that part of the seized cash sums was transported to Ghana from the United States. For that reason, the FBI became involved in a collaborative investigative work with the Office on the matter,” it added
The OSP notes that the investigation has been aimed at determining the source(s) of the large cash sums associated with Ms. Dapaah and Mr. Osei Kufuor.
“The Office has had the benefit of seven months of in-country and four months of collaborative transboundary investigation. On the totality of the gathered evidence and intelligence, it seems to us that the case is largely in the province of suspected money laundering and structuring,” it said.
By Emmanuel K Dogbevi