Private legal practitioner, Samson Lardy Anyenini, has raised doubts about the former Sanitation and Water Resources Minister’s justification for contesting media reports regarding the amount of money stolen from her residence after her resignation.
On Friday, media reports surfaced indicating that two housemaids who were employed by the former minister and her husband are currently facing trial, along with others, for the theft of significant sums of money and various items from their home.
The charge sheet states that the two housemaids, 18-year-old Patience Botwe and 30-year-old Sarah Agyei, are accused of stealing US$1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghana cedis between July and October 2022.
The stolen items allegedly include clothes, handbags, perfumes, jewelry, kente cloth, and suits belonging to the former minister’s husband, valued at thousands of dollars.
Following the publishing, Cecilia Dapaah has drawn criticism from the general population. Surprisingly, she has questioned the purported theft figures, stating that there are “noticeable inconsistencies” between what she reported to the police and the conversations about the supposed theft.
“Whereas I can state emphatically that those figures do not represent correctly what my husband and I reported to the Police, I am very much aware of the import of such stories around someone in my position,” she said in her resignation letter.
On July 24, Samson Anyenini claimed during an appearance on Joy FM’s Super Mr that the charge sheet has already been altered twice and wouldn’t be shocked if if the charge sheet were revised to state that only $1 had been taken.
He claims that the charge sheet is typically presented to the complainant(s) for any corrections or other changes before the police take a case to court.
“Well, when you make a complaint to the Police and they are about to file your charges in the court, they normally will check with you because there are times that certain errors are made and sometimes they even put the matter in court before you discover that they have made some errors and their attention is drawn and they go back and make the necessary corrections and do what we call an amendment.”
“In this case in particular, the 10 count charge sheet that was put in the court, it has been amended twice. There was an amendment on June 5, and the latest amendment was on June 20. So I don’t know why any correction that has to be made is still outstanding. So, it has been amended two times from the original amendment from the documentation that we have seen so far, and in the amendments, the first figure of a million dollars has never changed in any of the amendments, the second figure €300,000 never changed.”
“I think part of the money said to have been given to the boyfriend that appeared to be have been changed to the current amount that it is. So I don’t know what inconsistencies she is talking about. And the Police would have checked with you for something that they would have amended twice in respect of the figures. So I don’t know what they are talking about that there some inconsistencies with what was reported to the Police and what is on the charge sheet.”
“It is absolutely up to them to determine whether they want to go and do further amendments and reduce the $1 million to $1. That is up to them, if it’s $1 that has been stolen that they are chasing,” he said.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor has officially confirmed the detention of Cecilia Dapaah on suspicion of corruption and corruption-related charges.
According to a statement released by the Special Prosecutor’s office, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, who stepped down from her role as Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources on July 22, 2023, was apprehended by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) on July 24, 2023, at 11:55 GMT.
The arrest is in connection with the alleged involvement in corrupt practices and the theft of significant amounts of money and valuable items from her residence.