Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has criticized his former office for its handling of the unfreezing of five bank accounts associated with former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecelia Dapaah.

He has accused the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) of misleading the public in its handling of the investigation into the source of the former sanitation minister's wealth.

Amidu, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, expressed his perplexity over the OSP's decision to unfreeze certain bank accounts belonging to Cecilia Dapaah and publicly announce this action. In his view, the appropriate approach should have been for the OSP to disclose the reasons for revoking the freezing order rather than simply making an announcement.

“Kissi Agyebeng is running away with his tail between his legs from the adversarial process of the High Court even in matters which are subjudice. The proper forum for a competent and an experienced Special Prosecutor to state why the five (5) bank accounts should be de-frozen when the matter is already in court, is before the High Court and not in the media to con the unsuspecting public,” he stated.

Martin Amidu urged that Cecilia Dapaah's attorneys discuss what he believes to be the Special Prosecutor's abuse of the legal system in an open court.

“Cecilia Abena Dapaah’s lawyers should pursue the abuse of the process of the court entailed in the Special Prosecutor’s conduct to hold him accountable in open court after the petition has been dealt with by the Chief Justice’s directives and the substantive case filed on September, 11, 2023, comes on for hearing,” he stated.

Martin Amidu added “the issue of whether the frozen bank accounts should or should not be de-frozen has also become subjudice before the High Court. The proper procedure for the Special Prosecutor to have followed to have the five (5) bank accounts de-frozen at this stage of the proceedings was to apply to the court to order the de-freezing of those five (5) bank accounts and to order the hearing on the remaining bank accounts to continue."

The former Special Prosecutor further warned the OSP against carrying on his anti-corruption business as Tiger Eye PI's legal counsel while working at the office.

Background

Cecilia Dapaah is currently facing an OSP investigation for alleged corruption and related offenses, stemming from thefts exceeding $1 million, €300,000 in cash, and valuable items by two of her house helps at her residence in Abelemkpe.

The OSP, after an initial freeze order, once again froze the accounts of the embattled former minister on September 5, 2023, following a court directive to unfreeze her accounts and investments and return her seized funds.

GhanaWeb reported on August 9, 2023, that the assets and bank accounts of former Minister Cecilia Dapaah, containing significant sums in both dollars and cedis, had been frozen by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

On October 16, 2023, the OSP lifted the freeze order on five of Cecilia Dapaah's bank accounts. However, the freezing order remains in effect for her other bank accounts and financial assets.