The Accra High Court has rescheduled the hearing for the application to freeze the accounts of Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the former Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, to October 12, 2023.

The court had initially set the hearing for October 18, 2023, but it changed the date after receiving an application for abridgment of time from the former Minister. Justice Edward Twum ruled in favor of expediting the trial, stating that the former Minister would suffer greater hardship if the application for abridgment was not heard earlier.

This decision followed the court's earlier rejection of the Office of the Special Prosecutor's (OSP) initial application to freeze Mrs. Dapaah's accounts on August 31, 2023. Subsequently, the OSP was ordered to release her funds on September 5, 2023, but it filed another application to freeze the accounts.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) served Cecilia Abena Dapaah with the freezing application on September 20, 2023, and the original date for hearing the application was set for October 18, 2023. Victoria Barth, the lead counsel for the former Minister, argued that the delay in deciding the application for abridgment of time would cause undue hardship to her client.

She also acknowledged receiving the OSP's opposed application, characterizing it as a "comprehensive repeat application" for the confirmation of seizure and freezing orders related to suspected "tainted property."

She said: “My Lord you have power under Order 80 (4) (1) as well as your inherent jurisdiction to reduce or abridge time in the interest of justice.”

Esther Tetteh and other lawyers from the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) opposed the application for abridgment of time.

Cecilia Abena Dapaah has also filed an injunction application to prevent the OSP from continuing its investigation into her.