Private legal practitioner, Samson Lardy Anyenini, has questioned the basis for which former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah, is claiming the amount of money allegedly taken from her residence is contradictory with media accounts.
According to him, the charge sheet of the case has already been amended twice and he can, therefore, not fathom why the embattled Minister didn’t effect any change she deemed fit.
“When you make a complaint to the Police and they are about to file your charges in court, they normally allow you to go through because there may be some errors.
“It may also happen that these errors may be detected when the case is already in court but once their attention is drawn to it, the necessary amendments are made. In this case, the charge sheet was first amended on July 5 and then July 20 so what inconsistencies is the former Minister talking about?” he said on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem.
Madam Dapaah has been making news headlines since Friday after it emerged her two housemaids; 18-year-old Patience Botwe and 30-year-old Sarah Agyei and three others are facing trial for the theft of huge sums of money and personal items.
Per the charge sheet, a “cash sum” of $1m (£780,000), as well as 300,000 euro ($333,000) and 350,000 Ghana cedis ($30,000), plus other personal items including handbags valued at $35,000 and $95,000-worth of jewellery.
The 68-year-old has, however, disputed the figures given in the court document but the revelations outraged many in Ghana.
But Mr Lardy has said he won’t be surprised if the former Minister decides to amend the charge sheet to now say the amount stolen is even only $1.
“If today she wants to come out and say this is the amount I reported missing, that is her problem but the details are very clear on the charge sheet. Except that the police will take the blame because it will be as if they are not doing their jobs well due to the multiple changes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Special Prosecutor on Monday arrested Cecilia Dapaah over suspected corruption and corruption-related offences.
Reports indicate some of his family members have been taken in for questioning as well.
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