Former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has contested the Office of the Special Prosecutor‘s assertion that she received funds in her late brother’s bank account.
After complying with a court order to return seized assets due to suspicions of corruption, the OSP re-seized the funds and requested court confirmation.
In a sworn affidavit, Dapaah strongly denied any wrongdoing and challenged the claim that the seized funds were tainted. She explained that the money came from an account established to receive funeral donations for her late brother and was appropriately named “The Late Nana Akwasi Essan,” for which she was a signatory.
Furthermore, she clarified that the transferred funds were intended to cover her late brother’s children’s school fees.
“That money was being transferred from my deceased brother’s account into my account when the truth is that funds were transferred from Cal Bank from an account in the name “The Late Nana Akwasi Essan” to which I am a signatory. This account was opened with funeral donations collected by Cal Bank at my late brother’s funeral.
“The correct account name is conspicuously stated in Applicant’s Exhibit OSP18 and the Applicant could easily have ascertained the mandate on the account from Cal Bank. The funds are transferred to me for payment of the school fees of my late brother’s children,” she stated in her affidavit.
Background
On September 11, the OSP filed a second motion to investigate funds suspected to be tainted property. This action followed the initial seizure of $590,000.00 and GHS 2,862,007 from Cecilia Dapaah’s residence on July 24, 2023, after a news report suggested that individuals had stolen $1,000,000.00 from her home.
On August 31, 2023, an Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Edward Twum, dismissed the OSP’s initial attempt to confirm the seizure of Dapaah’s assets and the freezing of her bank accounts due to suspicions of tainted property.
In response to the court’s order to return Dapaah’s assets within seven (7) days, the OSP announced on September 5, 2023, that it had complied but subsequently re-seized her properties to aid ongoing investigations. They cited reasonable grounds to believe that the cash sums remained tainted property and explained that the second seizure aimed to prevent loss, concealment, or dissipation during the ongoing investigation.
The OSP’s application was originally scheduled to be heard at the High Court on Wednesday, October 18, 2023. However, Victoria Barth, a lawyer representing Ms. Dapaah, has filed an application to expedite the hearing of the application. This request for an abridgment of time is set to be heard on Wednesday, October 11, 2023.