The Executive Director of Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Dankwa, has announced plans to return the docket on Cecilia Dapaah to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
Despite requesting additional information from the OSP, EOCO has not received any response.
“We cannot continue to be doing fishing. It’s like we don’t even know what we are looking for. So, what I’m going do is that with the A-G’s advice, I will send the docket that we received from the OSP to him that there is nothing for us to do,” the EOCO boss declared in an interview with 3news’ Evelyn Tengma on May 6, 2024.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor had initially commenced investigations into the Cecilia Dapaah stashed cash case following reports of money being stolen from her residence. The investigations were later handed over to EOCO after the OSP determined that the case involved money laundering beyond their jurisdiction.
However, the Office of the Attorney-General expressed doubts about the basis of the referral, stating that the OSP had failed to identify any unlawful activity by Cecilia Abena Dapaah. COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Dankwa revealed that EOCO had sought guidance from the Attorney-General after the OSP did not provide additional information.
“We requested for the basis of the SP coming out with that conclusion that enabled him to say that we should continue. We requested for that, but as of now we don’t have any response and we sat down to review the whole document and at the end of the day, we realized that we couldn’t find our way clearer,” she explained.
Before the docket was handed over to EOCO, the source of the money had already been referred to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service as directed by the A-G. COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Dankwa emphasized that investigations into money laundering can only proceed if the money is sourced from unlawful activities to avoid duplication of efforts.
The ongoing saga involving Cecilia Dapaah continues to raise questions about the handling of financial crimes in Ghana’s government offices, with different agencies seemingly at odds over the appropriate course of action.
