{"id":178990,"date":"2024-05-06T16:24:59","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T16:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/05\/06\/osp-cleared-cecilia-dapaah-not-ag-dame\/"},"modified":"2024-05-06T16:24:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T16:24:59","slug":"osp-cleared-cecilia-dapaah-not-ag-dame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/05\/06\/osp-cleared-cecilia-dapaah-not-ag-dame\/","title":{"rendered":"OSP Cleared Cecilia Dapaah Not AG – Dame"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Godfred Yeboah Dame<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has refuted claims that his office has discontinued investigations into alleged corruption and corruption-related offences against former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah.<\/p>\n

Instead, he said it was the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) that cleared the former minister of any act of corruption and corruption-related activities and subsequently discontinued its investigation against her.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dame indicated that the OSP per a letter indicated that\u00a0 no clear indications of corruption was found in its investigations against her, the reason the OSP referred the matter to the Economic and Organised Office (EOCO) to investigate suspected money laundering and structuring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe record must reflect the point that the OSP properly seized with the mandate to investigate corruption and corruption-related offences, after conducting an elaborate enquiry cleared Madam Cecilia Dapaah of corruption,\u201d Mr. Dame stated on Newfile<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He was responding to reactions from the general public and some civil society organisations (CSOs), including Centre for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD) to the AG\u2019s office advice to EOCO not to pursue a money laundering probe into Madam Dapaah.<\/p>\n

The Office of the Attorney General returned the OSP\u2019s docket on Madam Dapaah, which called on EOCO to investigate her for money laundering and structuring.<\/p>\n

According to a document emanating from the AG\u2019s office, the OSP\u2019s docket did not provide sufficient information regarding its investigations into the former minister that show suspicion of the offence of money laundering and structuring.<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s office, in a response signed by Evelyn Keelson, a Chief State Attorney, observed that the OSP did not place a copy of its report on investigations conducted by that outfit on the docket submitted to EOCO.<\/p>\n

It also observed that the OSP\u2019s letter to EOCO also did not disclose the basis for the suspicion of the commission of the offence of money laundering and structuring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is thus difficult to ascertain the basis for the OSP\u2019s suspicion of the commission of the offence of money laundering and structuring by the suspects,\u201d parts of the response indicated.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

AG Clarifies <\/strong><\/p>\n

But this has drawn concern from many who claim that it was a deliberate move to clear another high profile member of society of any wrong doing.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dame, in his reaction, pointed out that his office never investigated Madam Dapaah for corruption or corruption-related offences hence could not clear her of same.<\/p>\n

He said it was the Office of the Special Prosecutor that cleared her of those allegations, pointing to the OSP\u2019s press release which states that, \u201cAfter nearly seven months of extensive investigation by the OSP and a parallel inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States, no direct and immediate evidence of corruption has been found in the seized funds and frozen bank accounts linked to Ms. Dapaah and her associates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Dame said a portion of the investigation was entrusted to the FBI due to allegation of involvement of transfer of funds from the United States to Ghana.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that this clearly settles the issue. If so far as funds located in Madam Dapaah\u2019s house were concerned, in so far as even lodgment into her accounts were concerned locally, and so far as the sums that were seized by the OSP were concerned, there were no direct or immediate evidence of corruption, and that is not me stating this, this is the Special Prosecutor himself clearing Madam Cecilia Dapaah,\u201d the Attorney General pointed out.<\/p>\n

He further indicated that, \u201cthe record must reflect the point that the OSP properly seized with the mandate to investigate corruption and corruption-related offences, after conducting an elaborate enquiry cleared Madam Cecilia Dapaah of corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo why is he now trying to suggest that the Attorney General now has to clear anybody of corruption?\u201d he inquired.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dame also clarified that \u201cEOCO never investigated for corruption, the Attorney General never investigated for corruption, it is the OSP itself which conducted seven months of extensive investigations into it and four months of what they describe as collaborative investigation with the FBI and came to that conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I am saying that the public must understand clearly that the OSP only gave a narrow remit to EOCO to investigate for money laundering in respect of the funds that were allegedly transferred into the country,\u201d the Attorney General added.<\/p>\n

Justifying why he said the OSP\u2019s allegation of possible existence of money laundering was baseless, Mr. Dame said it was because the OSP alluded to collaborative investigations with the FBI based on which it came by transfers from other jurisdictions into Ghana, and that clearly would require a proper ascertainment of that record.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo EOCO in pursuance of that wrote to OSP asking for a copy of that report, EOCO did not receive any reply till date, and that was way back on February 1 (2024),\u201d the Attorney General added.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

BY Gibril Abdul Razak<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Godfred Yeboah Dame \u00a0 The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has refuted claims that his office has discontinued investigations into alleged corruption and corruption-related offences against former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah. Instead, he said it was the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) that cleared the former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\nOSP Cleared Cecilia Dapaah Not AG - Dame - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/05\/06\/osp-cleared-cecilia-dapaah-not-ag-dame\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OSP Cleared Cecilia Dapaah Not AG - Dame - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Godfred Yeboah Dame \u00a0 The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has refuted claims that his office has discontinued investigations into alleged corruption and corruption-related offences against former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah. 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