Legal documents from the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) have revealed that the former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah, utilized aliases to conceal transactions related to undisclosed real estate business.
“The OSP’s criminal intelligence further suggested that the first respondent, as a Minister of State, was engaged in an undisclosed and undeclared real estate business in which she obscured and concealed the transactions by employing the use of aliases to avoid detection of the actual ownership of the business and properties, while cleverly receiving the proceeds of the transactions in her bank accounts and investments.”
Per reports the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) also uncovered information suggesting that Cecilia Dapaah, the former Sanitation Minister, had substantial amounts of unexplained cash concealed within her residence.
These amounts far exceeded what would be expected from her income as a Minister of State. Additionally, it was alleged that her domestic staff had reportedly pilfered a portion of these funds through theft.
This revelation marks the most recent initiative by the Office of the Special Prosecutor aimed at validating the confiscation of suspected ill-gotten properties linked to Cecilia Dapaah.
“There are no financial records and traces of the origin(s) of the money reportedly stolen from the residence of the respondents and the money discovered by the OSP at said residence. Further, there is no evidence of the amounts of money having been derived from any legitimate businesses, profession or vocation, and no evidence of said amounts having been lawfully declared and subjected to any statutory payments.
“During the search conducted in her presence, the first respondent disavowed and claimed no knowledge of the presence of the said cash sums in the residence. The conduct of the first respondent, being a public officer, heightened the suspicion of the authorised officers of the OSP that the cash sums were tainted property.”
These events unfolded in the aftermath of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) taking action on Monday, September 11, by filing a motion in the High Court to seek confirmation of the seizure and freezing orders concerning the financial assets of the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah.
A hearing for this matter is scheduled for October 18, 2023.
Initially, the OSP had frozen both the Cedi and Dollar bank accounts owned by the former minister on August 9. However, the decision was subsequently overturned by the High Court in Accra on August 31. The court ruled that the funds seized from Cecilia Dapaah should be returned to her within seven days, and it directed the OSP to unfreeze her accounts.
In response, the OSP exercised its legal authority to regain custody of the funds, a move made shortly after the High Court’s directive to return the seized money.