EOCO boss replies OSP over claim of 'lack of appetite to investigate and prosecute' Cecilia Dapaah

The Executive Director of the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO), Maame Yaa Tiwa Addo-Danquah, has refuted an assertion by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) that her office decided to drop the case of suspected money laundering against the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah.

Tiwa Addo-Danquah is reported by citinewsroom.com to have said that if anyone is to blame for the current status of the investigation, it should be the OSP.

According to her, the OSP failed to present a report on its accusation of money laundering against the former minister after a number of requests by her office.

“In view of the intense public interest generated by the instant matter, and to correct the undue misrepresentation of facts, EOCO would like to set the records straight. Following receipt of the 'referral' by the OSP on 25th January 2024, EOCO, by a letter dated 1st February 2024 signed by the Deputy Executive Director (Operations), Abdulai Bashiru Dapilah, requested the Special Prosecutor for 'a copy of the findings on the case to facilitate' EOCO’s investigations.

“EOCO’s letter of 1st February 2024 was received at the Front Desk of the Office of the Special Prosecutor by a Field Desk Officer II, Solomon Tetteh, who duly signed for the letter at 9:52 am on 2nd February 2024. The Deputy Executive-Director of EOCO, Bashiru Dapilah, followed up to the OSP and discussed with Mr. Emmanuel Basintale, the Director of Investigations of the OSP, the possibility of expediting the release of the report,” she is quoted as having said in an official statement.

The EOCO boss added, “This discussion was done in the presence of the Deputy Special Prosecutor, Ms Cynthia Lamptey. Mr. Basintale assured that as soon as he received clearance from the SP, the report would be released to EOCO to assist in investigations. To date, EOCO has not received any information from the OSP.”

Tiwa Addo-Danquah made these remarks while reacting to the Director of Strategy, Research, and Communications at the OSP, Samuel Appiah Darko, who accused her of not being factual when she said her office was going to return the docket on the case of the former minister.

He said that EOCO had returned the docket long ago, citing the advice given to it by the Office of the Attorney General.

“Let me start with what EOCO said yesterday [Monday, May 6] that they were going to return the docket to the OSP; that is not accurate. They have long returned the docket to us with an explanation that they have been advised by the AG [Attorney General] not to investigate.

"But remember, we did not say to prosecute, [but to] investigate, and so I don’t understand why EOCO will say they are now going to return the docket to OSP,” he said.

Darko is also reported to have said that EOCO's decision to drop Cecilia Dapaah’s case was because it did not want to investigate and prosecute her. He said that EOCO should stop blaming the OSP for its decision and tell Ghanaians the truth.

“The second point I want to make is this whole idea that the docket that the OSP sent to EOCO was baseless, and if you will indulge me, I am going to be a bit detailed, although we are not supposed to do this. But our point is that if there is no appetite to investigate and prosecute, tell the people of Ghana that there is no appetite, but don’t try to put the blame on the OSP,” he added.

Background:

The OSP closed its case against the former minister and her husband, Daniel Osei Kufuor, who were accused of corruption and corruption-related offences after two of their house helps allegedly stole $1 million and €300,000 in cash, along with other valuable items from their residence in Abelemkpe.

The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, concluded that his office lacked the authority to prosecute or take further action against the former minister and referred the case to EOCO.

The referral was based on the suspicion that the large sums of money found at Cecilia Dapaah’s properties and bank accounts could be the proceeds of a money laundering and structuring scheme.

The Attorney General, Godfred Dame, in advice to the EOCO boss on how to proceed with Cecilia Dapaah’s case, said "The OSP's referral to EOCO for investigations to be conducted into money laundering is without basis."

He also said that there was no evidence of corruption or procurement breaches against the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources and her husband, Daniel Osei Kufuor.

"A study of the docket from the OSP and the report by your office indicates that: a. investigations by the OSP did not establish any evidence of corruption, corruption-related offences, or procurement breaches against the suspects; b. the OSP has returned money and other properties retrieved from the suspects in the course of their investigations to them, and the suspects have been accordingly discharged by the OSP," parts of a letter Dame wrote to Tiwa Addo-Danquah, which was sighted by GhanaWeb, reads.

Tiwa Addo-Danquah on Monday, May 6, 2024, stated that her office will be returning the dockets it received from the OSP.

Speaking to the media at the 14th Commonwealth Regional Conference of Heads of Anti-corruption Agencies in Africa, Tiwa Addo-Danquah indicated that EOCO could not proceed with the investigation because there was nothing to find.

She suggested that her office would be embarking on a mere fishing expedition if it continued with the investigation, according to citinewsroom.com reports.

She added that state institutions must be bold and tell Ghanaians the truth if they are wrong in any of their investigations.

"If you read the Attorney-General's advice, whatever we would have done has already been directed at the Police CID. And as he said this morning, when you investigate a case and do not find anything, we should be bold enough to come and tell the public that for this case, even though I suspected this at the outset, that wasn't what came out; we should be bold with the Ghanaian.

"So, we cannot continue to fish when you don’t even know what you are looking for. You just go about looking for something that you know you are not even sure of," she is quoted as having said.

The EOCO boss added, "So, what I am going to do is that, with the Attorney-General's advice, I will send the docket that we received from the OSP back to him, confirming that there is nothing in it."

BAI/SARA

Watch the latest episode of Everyday People below:





Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.