The Economic and Organized Crime Office’s money laundering probes into the past dealings of former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah have been advised against by the Attorney General’s office and the Ministry of Justice.
This is in response to the Attorney General’s office ruling that there is no merit to the Special Prosecutor’s request to the Economic and Organized Crime Office to begin money laundering investigations into the activities of former Minister of Sanitation Cecilia Dapaah.
After deciding that the case involving more than $1 million in stolen funds and additional funds discovered by its officers in the former minister’s home did not come under its purview but instead raised questions about potential money laundering, the Special Prosecutor’s Office made a request.
Following months of cooperative investigation with US agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the OSP disclosed this.
However, the Economic and Organized Crime Office asked the Attorney General’s office for advice on the matter, and the office discovered that the OSP had not sent the report of the joint investigation to EOCO and had not replied to the office’s request for the findings.
The Attorney General’s office claims that the only documents on the docket that were submitted to EOCO were the OSP’s letter that transmitted the docket, the diary of action, statements made during the investigation, and letters that OSP had written to other organizations, such as the CID and banks involved in the investigation.
Analysis of the docket by the Office of the Attorney General also showed that Cecilia Dapaah was not found to have committed any acts of corruption or offenses related to corruption by the OSP.
However, the Attorney General’s office believes that gains from criminal proceeds resulting from unlawful activity are crucial to the money laundering case.
The Attorney General’s office comes to the conclusion that there is no justification for a money laundering investigation because the former Sanitation Minister’s properties are not connected to any criminal activity.
Although acknowledging that EOCO had the authority to begin looking into Cecilia Dapaah’s affairs in spite of its conclusions, the Attorney General’s office recommended against it.
The Ghana Police Service has been directed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor to look into the origins of the money discovered at Cecilia Dapaah’s residence, which forms the basis of this.
