The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has once again frozen the bank accounts and other investments of the former Minster for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah.
This comes after the Accra High Court on August 31, 2023, ordered the OSP to unfreeze her bank accounts and other investments.
However, a statement released by the OSP on September 5, 2023, has indicated that though it complied with the court’s directives to unfreeze her accounts, its investigations have found conflicting accounts of the ownership and sources of her money.
Therefore, the OSP has by its statutory power under section 38(1) of Act 959 and regulation 19(1) of L.I. 2374 directed that her accounts and investments be frozen again effective September 5.
“Consequently, subsequent to the indicated ruling and order of the High Court and the compliance by the OSP with said ruling and order, the Special Prosecutor considers that freezing the bank accounts and investments of Ms. Dapaah is necessary to facilitate the ongoing investigation. Therefore, the Special Prosecutor has invoked his statutory power under section 38(1) of Act 959 and regulation 19(1) of L.I. 2374 by directing the freezing of the bank accounts and investments of Ms. Dapaah effective 5 September 2023.”
The statement added that it was necessary to move to freeze her accounts again, as it believed that the cash amount seized is a tainted property, and seeks to prevent concealment.
“Further, subsequent to the indicated ruling and order of the High Court and the compliance by the OSP with said ruling and order, the Special Prosecutor considers that he has reasonable grounds to suspect that the cash amounts seized from and returned to Ms. Dapaah is tainted property and it is necessary to exercise the power of seizure to prevent the concealment or loss of said cash amounts. Therefore, the Special Prosecutor has again invoked his statutory power under section 32(1)(a) of Act 959 by directing the seizure from Ms. Dapaah of the cash amounts previously seized from her. Authorized officers of the OSP have seized the said cash amounts from Ms. Dapaah.”
