The court presided over by Justice Edward Twum, fixed the date after Dr Isidore Tuffour, who represented the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), moved the application in Court today.

Counsel argued that the confirmation application by the office of the special prosecutor was aimed at seizing $590,000 and GH¢ 2,730,000 found in her home upon a search of three houses associated with her.

Dr Tuffour revealed that Cecilia Dapaah could not explain how she came by the funds and the ownership of the alleged stolen monies is in dispute.

He argued that there was no requirement for them to show grounds for suspicion that the accounts were tainted.

Opposition

But Counsel for Cecilia Dapaah, Victoria Barth, on the other hand, argued that the application for confirmation contravened the procedure outlined in the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).

She contended that section 32(2) of Act 959 mandated the office to bring the application for confirmation within seven days after the seizure.

She argued that the application was filed after seven days had elapsed.

Ms Barth further argued that the fact that substantial amounts were found in the home of her clients does not justify the seizure of the property.

Counsel argued that the mere fact that their client was being investigated for corruption was not enough grounds for her accounts to be frozen.

According to her, the Special Prosecutor Act requires the applicant to demonstrate reasonable grounds for believing that the property is tainted and not just a mere assertion of the fact.

In her view, the OSP had not shown any grounds to prove that the monies found were tainted.

Husband

Before fixing the date, the presiding judge asked why Cecilia Dapaah was the only person being investigated when the alleged tainted money was found in her matrimonial home.

In his response, Dr Tuffour told the court that Cecilia Dapaah’s husband had also been placed under arrest.

Background 

On July 5, this year, police prosecutors arraigned two househelps working for Ms Dapaah and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour, at an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly stealing money and items worth millions of Ghana cedis from the couple’s residence at Abelemkpe in Accra.

According to the charge sheet, the accused persons allegedly stole valuable items from the residence of Mrs Dapaah, including $1,000,000 and €300,000 belonging to the couple.

The OSP arrested the minister and commenced investigations into the matter.

In the application filed at the High Court, the OSP noted that Ms Dapaah stated in her initial complaint to the police that $800,000 of the amount reportedly stolen from her residence belonged to her deceased brother and GH¢300,000 was a contribution towards her mother’s funeral, which was contained in a box.

The OSP added that Ms Dapaah, who later resigned, did not indicate who owned the remainder of $200,000.

After several media publications, Ms Dapaah issued a public statement claiming that there were noticeable inconsistencies between the amounts of money being discussed in the public domain and the thrust of the original complaint in the matter.

On July 22, this year, Mrs Dapaah resigned from her position as Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, which was subsequently accepted by the President.

On July 24, this year, the OSP arrested her on charges of corruption and corruption-related offences and subsequently conducted searches in three residential properties of Ms Dapaah at Cantonments, Abelemkpe and Tesano in Accra, leading to the new cash discoveries.

According to court documents, the OSP seized the discovered cash sums on grounds that they were suspected to be tainted property in accordance with section 32(1) of Act 959, hence the need to exercise the power of seizure to prevent concealment of the cash sums.

Circuit Court

Meanwhile, the father of one of the lead suspects has been freed.

Kwaku Botwe became a free man after police prosecutors filed a fresh charge sheet at the Circuit Court which excluded his name. 

Botwe is the father of Patience Botwe, a former househelp of Ms Dapaah.

In the new charge sheet, Sarah Agyei and Patience Botwe have been charged with six counts of stealing, while Benjamin Sowah, Malik Dauda, Christiana Achab, Job Pomary and Yahaya Sumaila have been charged with dishonestly receiving stolen money.

Agyei and Achab, both lactating mothers, have been admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢1 million each, with three sureties to be justified by the court presided over by Afia Owusuaa Appiah.

Per the bail conditions, the sureties are to deposit their passports and Ghana cards at the court registry.

The prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Emmanuel Nyamekye, told the court that investigations were ongoing.

Meanwhile, another suspect, Franklin Sarakpo, is currently on the run.

Hearing at the Circuit Court has been adjourned to Tuesday, August 22, this year.

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According to the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the accounts were frozen prior to the issuance of an official government statement last Tuesday on the suspension of PDS.

He told the Daily Graphic that the government quickly alerted the FIC after the detection of anomalies in the PDS guarantee, resulting in the freezing of the company’s accounts. He explained that the accounts would remain frozen until investigations were completed and all issues unravelled.

“It is important for Ghanaians to note that the government is committed to ensuring that all assets of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are secure,” Mr Nkrumah assured.

The retransfer of ECG’s assets in the possession of PDS was ongoing, the minister said.

Asked what the atmosphere was between the management of PDS and the ECG, Mr Nkrumah said, “Tense but moving.”

Suspension

A statement issued by Mr Nkrumah on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, to announce the suspension of the concession agreement, explained that the decision followed the “detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’s obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees) for the transaction which were discovered upon further due diligence”.

“The demand guarantees were key prerequisites for the lease of assets on March 1, 2019 to secure the assets that were transferred to the concessionaire,” the statement said.

Investigations continue both home and abroad.

Compact

Mr Nkrumah told journalists on Thursday, August 1, 2019, that the government was taking steps to secure the second tranche of $190 million compact from the American government following the suspension of PDS operations.

Subsequently, a team has been tasked to continue engagement with the American government through its agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

He told journalists: “This engagement is about the possible next steps after the enquiry and channels for sharing information as part of this enquiry.”

According to him, the team was expected to also be in the United States of America (USA) possibly next week as part of their engagement.

He also told the media last Thursday that a full-scale enquiry into the detected breaches had commenced and would end within 30 days.

Due diligence

According to Mr Nkrumah, initial due diligence, led by the transaction advisors, did not detect anything wrong.

Second level checks, led by the Ghana side, initially yielded a response from Al-Koot, the Qatari insurance company providing the guarantee bond, confirming the guarantee, he said.

A third level check led by the Ghanaian side, according to the information minister, resulted in the detection of anomalies within Al-Koot, thereby triggering a fourth level check.

He said “the fourth level check involved sending an initial team from the Ghana Mission in Qatar to engage with Al-Koot officials for further verification. This fourth level further proved the anomalies and suggested untoward actions which are now the subject of the full-scale enquiry,” Mr Nkrumah disclosed.

The PDS has responded to the suspension and denied any wrongdoing on its part.

A statement the company issued said: “The PDS has taken note of the statement issued by the government….and wishes to state for the record that it has always acted and would continue to act in good faith at all times.”

It said the company would go through due process “by complying with the terms of the transaction agreement executed between it and the Electricity Company of Ghana, on the one hand, and the government, through the Ministry of Finance, on the other.”

MCC Agreement

Ghana signed an agreement with the US government for the release of $498 million to support the transformation of Ghana’s power sector and stimulate private investment.

The first tranche of $308.2 million was released in 2016.

Per the MCC agreement, the second tranche, amounting to $190 million, will be released after Ghana meets requirements to access the fund.

Source: Daily Graphic

A letter written by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, dated March 21 said the ban holds until further notice.

MDAs have been directed to make use of the “existing fleet of vehicles in their respective transport pools.”

Madam Osei-Opare, however, noted that in extraordinary circumstances, MDAs that want to procure new vehicles “shall seek for and obtain the prior express written authorisation.”

The directive comes on the back of missing 208 state vehicles which was blamed on former government officials of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Speaking to the issue on Joy FM’s Newsnite programme Monday, Deputy Chief of Staff, Samuel Abu Jinapor said the ban was necessary  in order to channel the resources that would otherwise have been used for the purchase of vehicles into the implementation of government’s “ambitious” projects.

“Capital expenditure is used for purchasing vehicles, but in this budget, the President wants to spend it on the productive sector of the economy,” he said.

He said the President wants the way things are done to be changed because the nation is living in extraordinary times. “These are not normal times.”

Mr Abu Jinapor said the President has been using a vehicle purchased in 2007 since his investiture and has not found the need to purchase a new one.

“That’s what he has been riding in [and] he is working to ensure that we manage the resources of the country judiciously,” he added.

He said until there is a review, the moratorium remains a policy of the Akufo-Addo-led government.

President of policy think-tank, IMANI-Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, has described the development as “good news.”

He said the ban is indicative that the Akufo-Addo government wants to make do with the vehicles in the pool of the Presidency.

“We should be grateful for small mercies,” he said, wondering why government needs over 700 vehicles before it operates.

source: myjoyonline.com