The office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice has advised against money laundering investigations into the affairs of former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah by the Economic and Organized Crime Office.
This follows a determination by the office of the Attorney General that the request by the office of the Special Prosecutor to the Economic and Organized Crime Office, to initiate money laundering investigations into the affairs of former Sanitation minister Cecilia Dapaah is without basis.
The Special Prosecutor’s office requested after it determined that the case of over 1 million dollars stolen and others found by its officers in the house of the former minister did not fall under its mandate but rather raised issues of money laundering concerns.
The OSP made this known after months of collaborative investigation with agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States.
The office of the Attorney General however upon a request for advice on the issue by the Economic and Organized Crime Office, found that the OSP did not submit the report on the collaborative investigation to EOCO and has also not responded to a request by EOCO to furnish it with its findings.
According to the office of the Attorney General, the docket presented to EOCO only consists of the OSP’s letter transmitting the docket, the diary of action, statements taken in the course of the investigation, letters written by OSP to other institutions like the CID and Banks in the inquiry.
The Office of the Attorney General’s analyses of the docket also revealed that the OSP did not make any findings of corruption and Corruption-related offences against Cecilia Dapaah.
But in the view of the office of the Attorney General, the key to the charge of money laundering is gains obtained from criminal proceeds arising from unlawful activity.
The office of the Attorney General concludes that in the absence of any criminal issues associated with the properties of the NPP Politician, there is no basis for the investigation of money laundering.
Acknowledging the powers of EOCO to launch its investigation into the affairs of Cecilia Dapaah despite its findings, the office of the Attorney General advised against same.
This is premised because the Office of the Special Prosecutor has instructed the Ghana Police Service to investigate the sources of funds found at the home of Cecilia Dapaah.
