Cecilia Dapaah injunction: Special Prosecutor in Court for first time, case adjourned to Feb 1

Special Prosecutor (SP) Kissi Agyebeng, has made his first appearance at the High Court in Accra in a case in which former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah and family are seeking an interlocutory injunction against the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).

Former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah and husband Daniel Osei Kuffuor filed the Application for interlocutory injunction against the Office of the Special Prosecutor after the OSP seized and froze her accounts.

The couple per the application filed are seeking among other things, that the OSP’s re-seizure of their money initially seized on July 24 and re-freezing of their bank accounts on September 5, 2023, is unfair and unlawful.

In Court on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, before Justice Owusu Adu Agyemang, Kissi Agyebeng, the SP was present for the first time.

The case was adjourned to February 1, 2024, after the case was held in-camera but it was not clear why the adjournment.

At the last Court sitting, on December 5, last year, Prosecutors of the OSP asked the court for an adjournment due to certain developments.

Cecilia Dapaah and her husband per the application filed are seeking among other things, that the OSP’s re-seizure of their money initially seized on July 24 and re-freezing of their bank accounts on September 5, 2023, is unfair and unlawful.

According to EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, the Applicants – Cecilia Dapaah and her husband Daniel Osei Kuffuor were both absent while the Special Prosecutor was present.

The High Court presided over by Justice Joseph Adu Agyemang Owusu has since adjourned the case to January 9, 2024.

Subject matter

The former Minister argued that her application for Judicial review was necessitated by the OSP’s
prejudicial and arbitrary conduct from the inception of his investigations into corruption and corruption-related offences allegedly involving her and the husband.

She said, the action is also to prevent
further violation of her constitutionally guaranteed rights and rendering her
Application for Judicial review otiose, “It is imperative that the Respondent is
restrained from continuing his investigation pending the determination of my said Application.”

“I am advised by Counsel that I have property and personal rights that need to be protected by this Honourable Court and that an order of injunction should be granted against the Respondent to prohibit and restrain him from further violating my rights until the determination of this matter.

“I am advised by Counsel that damages will be inadequate to compensate me if this application for injunction is not granted and judgment is subsequently entered in the Applicant’s favour.

“I am further advised by Counsel and verily believe same to be true that considering the facts of this case and all surrounding circumstances it is just, convenient, proper, and necessary for this Honourable Court to exercise its discretion in my favour and grant this application,” she argued.

Reliefs

The former minister and her lawyers are seeking the following reliefs per the application for interlocutory injunction.

(a). A declaration that the Respondent’s re-seizure of the money (initially seized from the Applicant’s home on 24/07/23) and re-freezing of Applicant’s bank accounts respectively on 5th September 2023 is unfair, unreasonable, capricious, arbitrary, and ultra vires the Respondent’s statutory powers under Act 959 relative to the constitutional provisions
of Articles 23 and 296 of the Constitution, 1992.

(b) An Order for the Respondent to release the money reseized on 5th September 2023 to the Applicant and to unfreeze her bank accounts

(c) An Order prohibiting the Respondent from continuing the investigation of the Applicant and her husband for corruption or corruption-related offences.

(d) Any such further or other Orders as this Honourable Court may deem fit.