Arise Ghana Movement has said it petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate former Sanitation and Water Resources Minister because they are aware the Commission has the mandate.
According to the Movement’s convenor, Bernard Anbataayela Mornah, they are invoking the jurisdiction of CHRAJ after the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) failed to ascertain the source of the former minister’s wealth.
Mr. Mornah has been saying on Ghana Tonight on TV3 that Arise Ghana believes CHRAJ’s mandate of ensuring all public officers declare their assets and do not use their public image to enrich themselves, is the reason the Movement is counting on the Commission to investigate the former Member of Parliament for Bantama.
“We think that CHRAJ has a mandate and that mandate is to ensure that all those who hold public office, their assets declaration before and after must reveal that they have not siphoned state resources, to enrich themselves or use their public image to undermine the integrity of our nation. This is why we are at CHRAJ,” he indicated.
He added that it was the woman herself who reported her stolen money to the police which was later detected that her income could not provide those sums for her, the reason she needs to be investigated.
“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,” he explained.
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.
