Ghana: FBI Joins Anti-Graft Body's Probe of Former Ghanaian Minister's Assets

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12 October 2023
allAfrica.com
By Jerry Chifamba

Harare — Concurrent investigations into the actions of Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the former minister for sanitation and water resources, and her accomplices have been initiated by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States, Ghana's Office of the Special Prosecutor said.

Their assets and financial transactions within the U.S. and locally will be the main focus of the investigations. The OSP and FBI seek to ascertain the legality of the money possessed by Dapaah and her colleagues with regard to the transfer of monies from Ghana to the United States and back.

"The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have initiated concurrent inquiries into the activities of Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, and her associates. These investigations primarily focus on examining their assets and financial transactions within the United States of America. This collaborative effort is to ascertain the lawfulness of Ms. Dapaah and her associates' wealth, both in the context of their funds transitioning from Ghana to the United States and vice versa," the Office of the Special Prosecutor-Ghana said in a statement.

Founded in 2017, the OSP is an anti-corruption unit in Ghana, in charge of looking into and prosecuting allegations of corruption involving prominent people, including public officials. While The FBI is the domestic security and intelligence agency of the United States which is also the agency in charge of looking into and prosecuting offences involving bribery, financial fraud, and other types of corruption.

The OSP opened an investigation into Dapaah for offences relating to corruption after learning that she was holding more than U.S.$1 million in her home. Subsequently, two housekeepers employed by Dapaah and her spouse, Daniel Osei Kuffour, were charged by police prosecutors at an Accra Circuit Court with pilfering goods and cash valued at millions of Ghana cedis from their Abelenkpe property. The OSP searched the former minister's home. The cash was confiscated, and the former minister's cedi and dollar bank accounts were frozen, pending further investigation.

The anti-corruption body then filed an application with the High Court to have the former minister's bank accounts frozen and seized because it was believed to be tainted property, according to OSP officials. The application was denied, and the OSP was mandated to give over the former minister's seized property within seven days.

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