Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has recounted the discourse that surrounded the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s (OSP) involvement in the Cecilia Dapaah matter and how that will go a long way to shape Ghana’s democracy.
He says even if the state is unable to make any convictions on the matter, the discussions on it over the period, will strenghten Ghana’s democracy, to some extent, on conduct of public officers.
His comment comes on the back of the OSP’s discontinuance of the Cecilia Dapaah case which he says falls outside the Office’s mandate.
According to Mr. Kpebu, fallouts from the matter has served as a great admonishment that has caused a lot of good to the Ghanaian society.
Speaking Wednesday, January 17, 2024 with Alfred Ocansey on Ghana Tonight on TV3, the renowned lawyer said those who doubted anything could be achieved from the OSP’s probe on the matter should hold their breath since there was a huge value in the matter.
“I know some people who said they knew it, I won’t call them naysayers, it’s always good that we have people who have their doubts. They also serve a very critical function in our society. But we can’t say that yet. Let’s not forget the number of interviews we’ve conducted on this case both on Ghana Tonight, KeyPoints etc.
“We’ve used it to admonish ourselves. This is how not to be in public office, this is how not to conduct yourself in public office. There is huge value in it. It serves our democracy that we were talking, we were conscientizing ourselves and etc. Even if at the end of the day we don’t end up with a conviction, still, it would have served a very useful purpose. This is a case to which we’ve seen hard evidence which we can point to that people can relate. So we can use it to strengthen our governance system even without getting a conviction in court,” he explained.
Background
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) Wednesday, January 17, 2024, stated that it will, in due course, issue directives regarding the way forward on the Cecilia Dapaah case.
According to the OSP, its investigations so far indicate that the case borders on money laundering, which is outside its mandate.
“The investigation shows that the case is largely in the province of suspected money laundering and structuring. By operation of law, there are other law enforcement agencies which are reposed with a direct mandate in respect of money laundering and structuring. On that score, the Special Prosecutor will issue directives and further action on the matter in due course,” portions of the second half-year report of the OSP dated December 29, 2023 read.
It would be recalled that in July 2023, the Office commenced investigation in respect of suspected corruption and corruption-related offences regarding large amounts of money (mainly in foreign denominations) and other valuable items involving Ms. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, a former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources and her spouse, Mr. Daniel Osei-Kufour.
The investigation was largely aimed at determining the source(s) of the large cash sums. The Office took several steps including freezing Ms. Dapaah’s bank accounts and investments and seizing large sums from the residence of Ms. Dapaah and her spouse.
Upon the refusal by the High Court to confirm the freezing and seizure orders, the Office re-seized the cash sums and re-froze the bank accounts and investments and applied to the court again for confirmation in FT0074/2023 The Special Prosecutor v. Cecilia Abena Dapaah & Daniel Osei-Kufour.
From October 2023, the investigation became cross-border and transboundary upon the claim by the persons of interest that part of the seized cash sums was transported into the jurisdiction from the United States.
For that reason, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States became involved in a collaborative investigative work with the OSP on the matter. In October 2023, the Special Prosecutor revoked the freezing order in respect of five (5) bank accounts of Ms. Dapaah, which were eliminated from the focus of the investigation as no longer suspected to be tainted property.
By Felix Anim-Appau