Arise Ghana Movement has petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate former Sanitation and Water Resources Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
The Movement says the former Minister’s salary and supposed businesses do not commensurate the amount of money she stashed in her house.
According to Bernard Anbataayela Mornah, convenor of the Movement, Madam Abena Dapaah could be involved in an illegal business, the reason his outfit has petitioned CHRAJ to probe the source of her revenue.
Speaking on Ghana Tonight with Alfred Ocansey Wednesday, June 05, 2024, Mr. Mornah noted that it was the woman herself who reported her housemaids of making away with her money, which turned out to be that her accumulated salary throughout the period she served as Minister, together with proceeds from her supposed businesses, could not give her that amount she had in her possession.
“It was Cecilia Dapaah who made a complaint to the Ghana Police Service of her domestic staff having stolen some quantum of money from her residence, including other materials. And so, in that report, it was evident that the monies that the domestic staff had stolen was by that itself more than what her total income for the period that she was a minister and all her businesses put together could generate for her.
“Further investigations by the Special Prosecutor revealed that huge sums of monies were collected from her house. That is, in excess of US$590,000, GHC2.7million, 350,000 euros, and so on and so forth. In addition to that, she had acquired properties in Abelenkpe, Tesano, and of course in Cantonments.
“These places and the search revealed that huge sums of monies were retrieved from her home. There are lingering questions that one will ask. A minister of state of her caliber storing cash in her home at a time when she knew that putting such monies at home did not only pose a risk for her, but it also undermined the efficacy of her economy, her currency, and what have you,” Mr. Mornah elaborated, indicating that this is the reason Arise Ghana feels CHRAJ should investigate her after EOCO and the OSP failed to do so.
He said he is certain the woman is engaging in illegal business putting together the issues surrounding the matter.
“That if public officers, as she claimed that she owned a business, and that business obviously was not created in her name, it was created in the name of Marian Awuah. For the minister to claim that she got proceeds from the business, it’s evident that this minister was doing an illegal business because she did not have the authority, one of the executives, to go ahead to do this business. Certainly you cannot be running a public office and also be running a business of private benefit,” he said on TV3.
Background
Madam Abena Dapaah, following her resignation with the emergence of the scandal, was tasked to be probed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) who later handed the matter to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) due to the suspicion of money laundering which did not fall in the OSP’s mandate.
EOCO, subsequently submitted the docket given to it for the probe to the Office of the Attorney-General for advice who counseled against the office for conducting such investigation.
Upon further scrutiny of the docket, the Attorney General’s office determined that the OSP did not uncover any evidence of corruption or corruption-related offenses involving Cecilia Dapaah.
The Attorney General’s office stressed that the key of pursuing money laundering investigations lies in the ability to demonstrate that financial gains were derived from criminal proceeds arising from illegal activity.
“In the absence of the identification of any criminality associated with the properties retrieved from the suspects, the OSP’s referral to EOCO for investigations to be conducted into money laundering is without basis.”
The Attorney General advised against EOCO delving into the source of Cecilia Dapaah’s funds, as the CID had been tasked with handling that aspect of the case.
“Even though as part of your mandate you could commence investigations into the source(s) of the money found in the home of the suspects, we do not find this necessary since this Office before the reference by the OSP, had instructed the Police Service who are already seized with other aspects of the case to investigate the sources of the huge sums of money found in the homes of the suspects, a fact the OSP is aware of. We find from the OSP’s docket, marked as B1″, a copy of the Attorney-General’s letter to the Director-General of the CID dated 31st July 2023”, the statement stated.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office had initially requested EOCO’s involvement after determining that the case, which involved over 1 million dollars found in the former minister’s house among other issues, did not fall under its jurisdiction, albeit suspecting potential money laundering.
Following months of collaborative investigation with agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States, as indicated by the OSP, the decision marked a significant development in a case of substantial national interest.
