Cecilia Dapaah saga: AG's call for further investigation a step in the right direction - Lawyer

Legal practitioner, Albert Gyamfi has said that the Attorney General’s call for the police to conduct more investigations into the Cecilia Dapaah theft case is a step in the right direction.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Law, he explained that the investigations will not only establish the guilt or otherwise of the accused persons but could also bring in more accomplices, increase charges and provide enough evidence to be used in court by the prosecutor on the case.

Mr Gyamfi stated that “advice given for the complainant source of money to be investigated in my view is in the right direction. One thing about stealing is that if you are to secure a conviction for stealing you're supposed to prove that there has been a dishonest appropriation, the complainant must have something and that thing should have been stolen.”

“So did they really have $800,000, $200,000 and €‎300,000 at home? Because, if they did not have it then those persons cannot be charged with stealing, that is the first one. So in the first advice given whether those monies were in the home is critical.”

Mr Gyamfi added that if theft is established, with the huge amount of money involved, further investigations needed to be conducted to determine the source of the money and why it was at home.

He stated that "the fact that you are the complainant does not mean that they cannot also be investigated. If the police should also conduct the investigation and it turns out that, that is also an avenue for money laundering, they can also charge the complainants in a different docket, with a different charge for money laundering.”

The lawyer added that in other cases, charges proffered against some suspects like the 18-year-old maid’s father, following the investigation may have to be dropped after the advice of the Attorney General.

He added that the ones who sold the $70,000 house to the young maid may also have to be called in through the investigations.

Mr Gyamfi stated that “selling a $70,000 house to a young person, without excuse me to say any meaningful source of employment, without you knowing where the money was obtained and asking no questions, you could be charged for money laundering.”

“You're going to have so many counts involving so many other people, so the call for further investigation is in the right direction. After the investigations have been done, it is the Attorney General that would take the case docket to court. So if he feels that he will need further evidence in projecting this case it is in the right direction. I think he should be commended for instructing the investigative body to carry out other investigations.”

His comment comes after the office of the Attorney-General announced that it is taking over the prosecution of the case involving the immediate past Minister for Water Resources and Sanitation, Cecilia Dapaah.

The Police prosecutor, DSP Emmanuel Nyamekye, informed the court on Wednesday, August 2, about this development, after the police forwarded the case docket to the Attorney-General’s office for advice last week.

Background

In July 2023, an Accra Circuit Court was told that huge sums of money and other items of Sanitation Minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour have been stolen from their Abelemkpe home.

According to the prosecution, the thefts happened between July and October 2022.

The two house helps – Patience Botwe, 18, and Sarah Agyei, 30 – are currently charges including facing one count of conspiracy to commit a crime and five counts of stealing, involving amounts of US$1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghana Cedis.

Three other individuals have also been charged for dishonesty receiving money from the first and second accused.

After the news went viral, the office of the Attorney-General announced that it is taking over the prosecution of the case attracting some public outcry.

Examining the docket, the Attorney General advised accordingly.

He called on the police to conduct an investigation into the ownership of the US$200,000 and €300,000 said to have been stolen, and the source of the money.

Again, he called for an investigation into the $800,000 belonging to Madam Dapaah’s deceased brother and the GHS300,000 contribution towards her mother’s funeral contained in a box, and a bag
that was stolen to ascertain the following:

i. The true ownership of the amount of US$800,000.
ii. The source(s) from which the established owner of the amount of US$800,000 acquired the money.
iii. Whether the accused actually stole the full amount of US$800,000 from the house of the complainants.

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