By Joyce Danso
Accra, Sept. 1, GNA – An Accra High Court has dismissed the application of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to freeze the bank accounts and assets of Cecilia Abena Dapaah, a former Sanitation and Water Resources Minister.
The court presided over by Justice Edward Twum in his ruling said the OSP breached the Special Prosecutor Act (Act 959) by filing the said the application out of time.
The court further stated that the OSP had reservations about the true ownership of the former Minister’s house and was unable to convince the court about the alleged tainted property.
“If the applicant was unsure about the ownership of the money, how could it go ahead to freeze those tainted properties.”
The court said that ownership and possession of “tainted property” could not be the same.
The court did not find justifiable grounds for the OSP to freeze the respondent’s account, adding the OSP exercised its power of seizure wrongly.
It said the OSP’s application was based on public sentiments and was therefore unjustifiable in law.
It ordered the OSP to return the confiscated assets to Madam Dapaah within seven days.
On August 8, 2023, the OSP went to court praying for the seizure of the former Minister “tainted property”.
The former Minister, however, filed an affidavit in opposition to the OSP’s application.
The application stemmed from a criminal matter dubbed the Republic verses Patience Botwe and four others.
In the said case, between July and October 2022, the accused persons, namely house helps and others were alleged to have stolen $1 million and 300,000 Euros from the residence of the former minister rand her husband’s residence at Abelemkpe, Accra.
The OSP in support of its motion indicated that searches had led to the discovery of cash in the sum of $590,000 and GHC2,730,000 at the Abelemkpe residence of the former Minister.
“Authorized officers of the OSP seized the discovered cash sums on reasonable grounds that they were suspected tainted property in accordance with Section 23 (1) of Act 959 as it was necessary to exercise the power of seizure to prevent concealment of the cash.”
The OSP noted that in a directional advice dated on July 31, 2023, the Attorney General directed the Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service to conduct
investigations on the “true ownership and sources of the amounts reportedly stolen from the residence of the respondent (Cecilia Dapaah)”
It said that the directive affirmed the reasonableness of the OSP’s inquiries into the sources of the large sums of money associated with the former Minister.
The OSP said to facilitate investigations, it considered it necessary for the issuance of a “freezing order against the bank accounts and investments of respondent (Cecilia Dapaah) at Prudential Bank Limited and Société Generale Ghana in accordance with Section 38 (1) of Act 959 and regulation 19 (1) of LI 2374.
On July 24, 2023, the OSP arrested Cecilia Dapaah on charges of corruption and corruption related offence.
Cecilia Dapaah through her counsel argued that the money found at her residence were accrued from her past employments, pensions, investments and two deceased relations.
The court noted that the OSP breached Act 959 when it exercised its power of seizure, adding it could not condone the infringement of the Law or any Act of Parliament by the OSP.
“The court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the applicant’s clear breach of Act 959.”
Additionally, the court held that the OSP could not rely on the directive of the Attorney General to the CID to determine the ownership of the money and same could not be substantiated by the OSP.
GNA