An Accra High Court has ordered the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to release Cecilia Dapaah’s seized money to her within seven days.
When the OSP seized her assets, the former Sanitation Minister found herself embroiled in a judicial battle. However, the court overruled this move, ordering the OSP to release the confiscated funds to her.
Following the discovery that Madam Dapaah was keeping more than $1 million in her house, the OSP is investigating her for corruption and corruption-related offences.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor conducted a thorough investigation of the minister’s residences following the shocking disclosure of stolen monies by her domestic staff. This was due to the astronomical amounts that were allegedly stolen.
Later, shocking information from the Office of the Special Prosecutor surfaced, revealing that an enormous amount of US$590,000 in cash was found during the search of the former Minister’s Abelemkpe home.
At the same time, a startling sum of GHC 2.730,000 in cash was also found there.
The Special Prosecutor acted swiftly, taking these substantial quantities of money as necessary proof to back up the ongoing inquiry.
The former minister’s cedi and dollar accounts were later frozen by the OSP pending more inquiries.
On Friday, July 21, it was revealed that two of the Minister’s housekeepers were being prosecuted by the Accra Circuit Court for purportedly stealing money in the amount of $1 million, $300,000, and millions of Ghanaian cedis in October 2022 from the former minister’s home in Abelenkpe, Accra.
Between July and October 2022, the two, Sarah Agyei, 30, and Patience Botwe, 18, are accused of stealing the couple’s money and personal belongings.
Both have been accused of stealing US$1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghanaian cedis, as well as conspiring to conduct a crime on one count.
The 68-year-old former Minister denies the numbers in the court filing, but the information shocked a lot of Ghanaians.
The 68-year-old former Minister denies the numbers in the court filing, but the information stunned a lot of Ghanaians.
Recent months have seen a sharp decline in the value of the Ghanaian cedi, which is being blamed largely by those in control of the faltering economy on dollar hoarders.
The notion that a government minister may have been hoarding foreign currency herself shocked many people.
Ms. Dapaah resigned on Saturday from her position as minister of sanitation and water resources, which she had held for the previous five years, in order, according to her, to avoid detracting from the government’s work. She continued by saying she was confident that any probe would demonstrate that she had done honourably.
That did not make the rage go away. On Monday, July 24, she had been placed in custody.
Ms. Dappah was detained and was being questioned for “suspected corruption and corruption and corruption-related offences regarding large amounts of money and other valuable items reportedly stolen from her residence,” according to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which deals with graft allegations against high-level officials.
After her official and private properties in the capital, Accra, were searched, she was released on bail late on Monday night.
The story began when the minister’s private residence, which she shares with her husband and daughter, was broken into, or perhaps a number of times.
The claims centred on two women who performed domestic services for the household. One is accused of acting as a lookout while the other is accused of stealing the money and other items. They have not responded to the accusations, nor have the other three defendants.
According to the “brief facts” of the case attached to the charge sheet, last October Ms. Dapaah’s husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour, returned home to “an unusual noise” coming from his bedroom. He then went to investigate and discovered one of the suspects crouching behind the door.
The couple discovered that items were gone later, but they didn’t report the theft to the police until seven months had passed.
The couple discovered that items were gone later, but they didn’t report the theft to the police until seven months had passed.
Although the reason for the protracted delay is unclear, it is claimed that throughout that time the accused engaged in a lavish spending
spree.
On the outskirts of Accra, one allegedly purchased a three-bedroom home along with furnishings for it, including a double-decker refrigerator, a television, a washing machine, a chest freezer, a gas burner and a water dispenser. She is accused of giving her boyfriend cash to purchase a Hyundai Elantra and a Honda Civic.
The couple is also charged with renting a store room and a second three-bedroom residence in a different city.
It is alleged that the second ex-employee of Ms. Dapaah used some of her portion of the money taken to construct a three-bedroom home of her own.
The former minister, however, was unsure of the source of the funds allegedly used to pay for this astronomical shopping bill.
In her resignation letter, Ms Dapaah said the reports that she had “various huge sums of foreign currencies and millions of Ghana cedis… do not represent correctly what my husband and I reported to the police”.
President Nana Akufo-Addo’s response disappointed anti-corruption campaigners as it appeared to prejudge the outcome of the investigations.
“I am confident… that at the end of the day, your integrity, whilst in office, will be established,” he wrote to Ms Dapaah.
She had served as a minister since President Akufo-Addo was first elected in 2017, initially in aviation and a year later she was switched to water and sanitation.
Ms Dapaah was well known as she was one of just three women in the president’s cabinet.
Now her political future hangs in the balance as the special prosecutor investigates whether she really had such huge amounts of cash in her house and if so, where it came from.
