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Former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah has been accused by the Office of the Special Prosecutor for failing to comply with a request from the office to declare her assets and money.
The OSP is looking into Cecilia Dapaah after enormous sums of local and foreign money were discovered in her bank accounts and during a search of her residence.
Since July 24, 2023, Cecilia Dapaah, who is under investigation for, among other things, offenses related to corruption, has allegedly refused to deliver the OSP the documentation she was given to use to report her assets and income.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has therefore accused the former minister of violating section 69(1)(a) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) by refusing to comply with a legal demand made by an authorized official of the OSP while doing his duties.
Here are excerpts from the OSP’s charge sheet that was intercepted by media:
“The accused was, until 22 July 2023, the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources. She is a suspect under investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor for corruption and corruption-related offences including using public office for profit in respect of suspected tainted large cash sums reportedly stolen from her residential premises and also retrieved from same by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.”
“The evidence will establish that on 24 July 2023, the Special Prosecutor, in the performance of his functions, served on the accused a notice to declare her property and income under regulation 20(1) per Forms 11A and 11B of the First Schedule of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374).”
“The Accused was duly notified as per the statutory forms and by a cover letter under the seal of the Office of the Special Prosecutor and the seal and mark of the Special Prosecutor, that she was required by law to make the specified declarations and return same to the Office of the Special Prosecutor as per Form 12 of the First Schedule of L.I. 2374, within thirty (30) days of service on her of the notice.”
As at the close of business on 5 October 2023, the accused had wilfully failed, without lawful excuse, to return the duly completed statutory forms to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, more than thirty (30) days after the service of the notice and forms on her.”
In the meantime, Cecilia Dapaah’s attorneys have also requested an injunction against the OSP.
The attorneys claim in court filings submitted today, Tuesday, October 10, that the accused will sustain irreparable harm if the OSP is not retrained.
Additionally, the former minister denied claims made by the Office of the Special Prosecutor that she operates an unregistered real estate company.
She claims that the OSP has not shown any proof to support that assertion.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
