Cecilia Abena Dapaah

Former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah’s application seeking to restrain the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) from continuing to freeze accounts and seize cash recovered from her Abelemkpe residence has been adjourned to February 1, 2024.

The OSP froze the former minister’s Prudential Bank and Société Générale bank accounts after huge sums of money were recovered from her home during a search.

On August 31, 2023, the High Court in Accra ordered the OSP to return the $590,000 and GH¢2.73 million seized from Cecilia Dapaah’s home within seven days.

In response, the OSP disagreed with the court’s ruling and requested the Human Rights Court to permit the continuous freezing of the former minister’s properties and cash.

Cecilia Dapaah on October 9, 2023, in an application, wanted the freeze and seizure case to be expedited.

The OSP announced on its Facebook page that the case was adjourned to February 1.

“The Human Rights Court siting in Accra has adjourned to 1 February 2024 the case in which former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffuor, have filed an interlocutory injunction application against the OSP to restrain the Office from continuing to freeze Madam Dapaah’s accounts and seizing cash recovered from their residence.”

Background

Madam Dapaah, the former Sanitation Minister, became the talk of the town in July 2023 when the Chronicle Newspaper reported that her domestic helps had been dragged to court for allegedly stealing $1 million, 300,000 euros, several million cedis, and personal effects of the former minister and her husband valued at thousands of Ghana Cedis and dollars.

Cecilia Dapaah subsequently resigned from her position after a public uproar. She was arrested by the OSP and was later granted bail.

Officials from the Office of the Special Prosecutor on Monday, July 24, 2023, searched the home of the former Minister of Sanitation.

The OSP said it found US$590,000 and GHC2.730,000 in cash at the apartment of the former minister.

Officials from the Office of the Special Prosecutor took immediate action, seizing these substantial cash sums as crucial evidence to support the ongoing investigation.