Ghanatodayonline.com News, Politics, Health, Education & More
The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has been urged not to start money laundering investigations into the transactions of former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah by the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Justice.
In response to EOCO’s request for counsel on the subject, the Attorney General’s office discovered—in a letter dated April 25, 2024, which was copied to EOCO—that the OSP had failed to provide EOCO with the results of its cooperative investigation.
The office also pointed out that the OSP has not replied to EOCO’s request for its findings.
The Attorney General’s office claims that the only documents on the docket that were provided to EOCO were the OSP’s letter that transmitted the docket, the diary of action, statements made during the investigation, and letters that the OSP sent out for inquiries to other organizations such as banks and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
The Attorney General’s office conducted more docket analysis and found that Cecilia Dapaah had no evidence of corruption or violations related to corruption.
The Attorney General’s office emphasized that being able to demonstrate that financial gains were made from criminal proceeds resulting from illicit action is crucial while conducting money laundering investigations.
“In the absence of the identification of any criminality associated with the properties retrieved from the suspects, the OSP’s referral to EOCO for investigations to be conducted into money laundering is without basis.”
The Attorney General also advised against EOCO investigating the source of Cecilia Dapaah’s funds on the basis that the CID had been tasked to take charge of that aspect of the case.
“Even though as part of your mandate you could commence investigations into the source(s) of the money found in the home of the suspects, we do not find this necessary since this Office before the reference by the OSP, had instructed the Police Service who are already seised with other aspects of the case to investigate the sources of the huge sums of money found in the homes of the suspects, a fact the OSP is aware of. We find from the OSP’s docket, marked as B1″, a copy of the Attorney-General’s letter to the Director-General of the CID dated 31st July 2023.”
“In light of the above, the OSP docket on the subject matter is returned herewith.”
The Special Prosecutor’s Office suspected possible money laundering, but decided the case involving over a million dollars found in the former minister’s house, among other issues, did not fall under its purview. Consequently, the office sent the request to EOCO.
According to the OSP, this judgment is the result of months of cooperative research with organizations such as the US Federal Bureau of investigation.
It’s still unknown how this highly publicized case will turn out at this point.
As a result of the OSP returning cash and other items that it had taken from the suspects throughout its investigations, the agency has already released the suspects.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
