The lawsuit involving former Sanitation and Water Resources Minister Cecilia Dapaah has taken an even more dramatic turn.
Following the shocking discovery of stolen monies by her domestic staff, the Office of the Special Prosecutor conducted a thorough investigation of the minister’s residences, motivated by the extraordinary amounts reported stolen.
According to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, a considerable sum of US$590,000 in cash was discovered during the search of the former Minister’s Abelemkpe property.
Concurrently, an incredible quantity of GHC2.730,000 in cash was discovered at the same house.
Officials from the Office of the Special Prosecutor acted quickly, seizing these large sums of money as important evidence to support the ongoing investigation.
The OSP has since frozen the former minister’s cedi and dollar accounts pending further inquiry.
An Accra High Court has scheduled Thursday, August 17, to pronounce on whether or not to confirm the freezing of Cecilia Dapaah’s different accounts.
Background
On Friday, July 21, it was revealed that two of the Minister’s house helpers were facing charges before an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly stealing $1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghanaian cedis at the former minister’s apartment in Abelenkpe, Accra, in October 2022.
Patience Botwe, 18, and Sarah Agyei, 30, are accused of stealing the couple’s money and personal belongings between July and October 2022.
Both have been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit a crime and five counts of stealing US$1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghana cedis.
The 68-year-old former Minister disputes the figures given in the court document but the revelations outraged many in Ghana.
Ghana’s cedi currency has been losing value rapidly in recent months, with those in charge of the troubled economy blaming dollar hoarders for the woes of the cedi.
It was shocking for many to learn that a government minister may have been holding foreign currency herself.
Arrest and Resignation
Ms Dapaah resigned as minister of sanitation and water resources, a position she had held for the previous five years, on Saturday in order not to distract from the government’s work, she said. She went on to say that she was confident that any investigation would reveal that she had acted with integrity.
That didn’t stop the rage. On Monday, July 24, she was arrested.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor, which investigates graft allegations against high-level officials, announced that Ms Dappah had been arrested and was being questioned for “suspected corruption and corruption-related offences involving large amounts of money and other valuable items allegedly stolen from her residence.”
After her official and private properties in Accra, Ghana’s capital, were searched, she was released on bail late Monday evening.
The drama began with a burglary – or perhaps a series of burglaries – at the minister’s private residence, which she lives with her husband and children.
The claims center on two women who worked as domestic employees for the family. One is accused of acting as a lookout, while the other is accused of stealing the cash and other items. They, like the other three accused, have not responded to the charges.
According to the “brief facts” of the inquiry, which are attached to the charge sheet, Ms Dapaah’s husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour, returned home last October and heard “an unusual noise” from his bedroom before seeing one of the accused cowering behind the door.
The couple realized things were missing after that, but they didn’t report it to the police until seven months later.
It is unclear why there was such a long delay, but the accused are accused of going on an exorbitant spending binge during that time.
One allegedly purchased a three-bedroom house on Accra’s outskirts, as well as the following items: a double-decker fridge, a television, a washing machine, a chest freezer, a gas burner, and a water dispenser. She allegedly handed her boyfriend money to purchase two cars, a Hyundai Elantra and a Honda Civic.
The couple is also accused of renting a three-bedroom property in another city as well as a storage space.
Ms Dapaah’s other former employee is accused of spending some of her stolen money on the construction of her own three-bedroom house.
But, according to the former minister, the source of the money that paid this supposed massive shopping bill was a mystery.
Ms Dapaah stated in her resignation letter that the reports of her having “various huge sums of foreign currencies and millions of Ghana cedis… do not accurately represent what my husband and I reported to the police.”
Anti-corruption campaigners were upset by President Nana Akufo-Addo’s reaction, which appeared to prejudge the outcome of the investigations.
“I am confident… that at the end of the day, your integrity will be established while in office,” he wrote to Ms Dapaah.
She has been a minister since President Akufo-Addo was first elected in 2017, first in aviation and then in water and sanitation a year later.
Ms Dapaah was well-known since she was one of only three female members of the president’s cabinet.
Her political future is now in jeopardy as the special prosecutor investigates if she had such large sums of cash in her home and, if so, where it came from.
