The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has responded to the Accra High Court’s order that the office return the money it had taken from Cecilia Dapaah.
The OSP was ordered to release the funds within seven days and to revoke its August 9 judgement to freeze her dollar and cedi accounts by the Accra High Court on Thursday, August 31.
However, in a statement in reaction to the court’s order, the office stated it respected the instruction but disagreed with it since it was incorrect.
OSP Responds to Court order over Cecilia Dapaah’s Seized money
“The office disagrees with the Court’s ruling, but it respects the Court’s determination. First, the OSP thinks that the Court’s calculation of the time limit is inaccurate, with all due respect. Over a period of two (2) weeks, the OSP searched three (3) private homes connected to Ms. Dapaah.
During that time, the searches and discoveries were continuous. Once the search and discovery window is taken into account, there is little question that the OSP submitted their application within the statutory window.
The OSP additionally stated that, contrary to what has been suggested, its decision to freeze the accounts of the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources was not influenced by public opinion.
“The freeze order was not made in response to popular opinion. Instead, it was based on court documents submitted in a criminal case where Ms. Dapaah was the complainant and was heard by the Circuit Court of Accra.
Furthermore, as required by law, the freezing order was implemented to facilitate the inquiry rather than on the basis of the investigation, as the court suggested.
It cannot therefore be claimed that the OSP did not conduct adequate investigations to support the freezing order. The investigation just got started, and it’s still going.
Following the discovery that Madam Dapaah was keeping more than $1 million in her home, the Office opened a corruption and corruption-related offence investigation into her.