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The Economic and Organised Crime Office’s (EOCO) stance, according to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), indicates that it is not interested in looking into the allegations of money laundering made against former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah.
In a media interview on Monday at the 14th Commonwealth Regional Conference of Heads of Anti-corruption Agencies in Africa, Maame Yaa Tiwa Addo-Danquah, the Executive Director of EOCO, revealed that efforts were being made to return the docket to the OSP. The OSP had forwarded its docket on the former minister to EOCO for further action.
Madam Addo-Danquah asserts that her organization was powerless since everything they “would have done had already been directed at the police CID.”
According to Samuel Appiah Darko, Director of Strategy, Research, and Communications at the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), EOCO is just not motivated to look into and bring charges against the former minister.
“The second point I want to make is this whole idea that the docket that the OSP sent to EOCO was baseless and if you will indulge me, I am going to be a bit detailed, although we are not supposed to do this but our point is that if there is no appetite to want to investigate and prosecute, tell the people of Ghana that there is no appetite but don’t try to put the blame on the OSP,” Mr. Darko revealed to Citi FM’s Bernard Avle, host of the Citi Breakfast Show.
Furthermore, he denied rumors that the former minister had been cleared by the OSP.
“The AG saying that we had cleared Cecilia Dapaah of any offence is also not accurate because the OSP has never cleared Cecilia Dapaah because when you say you have cleared someone, it means that you have investigated and come to the conclusion that no offence has been committed.”
According to the Director of Strategy, Research, and Communications at the OSP, Samuel Appiah Darko, EOCO had returned the docket long ago.
He said the OSP was therefore surprised to hear the Executive Director of EOCO, Commissioner of Police (COP) Maame Yaa Tiwa Addo-Danquah, claiming that her office is yet to send the docket to the OSP.
The EOCO boss said this while addressing the media at the 14th Commonwealth Regional Conference of Heads of Anti-corruption Agencies in Africa, which was held on Monday May 6, 2024.
She said her outfit intends to return the docket due to the lack of additional information required by EOCO to conduct investigations for potential prosecution of the crime of money laundering.
COP Addo-Danquah said the decision was arrived at following the Attorney General’s (AG) advice on the matter.
She said the AG noted in his recommendation that the OSP failed to offer a basis for its determination of potential money laundering crimes for investigation by EOCO.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
