The High Court in Accra has rescheduled the hearing for the legal dispute involving former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffuor, who have lodged an interlocutory injunction against the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
The injunction pertains to the OSP’s action of seizing and freezing the couple’s financial accounts and assets. Ms. Dapaah, in her suit against the OSP’s asset seizure, seeks relief from the Human Rights Court to temporarily halt the confiscation and prevent any infringement on her rights until the conclusive decision on her judicial review application. This application aims to secure court orders that prohibit the OSP from probing her and mandate the release of her assets.
During the recent court session on Tuesday, Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng made his first appearance since the case’s initiation last year. However, notable the former sanitation minister and her husband were not present, with the proceedings conducted behind closed doors.
The argument presented by Ms. Dapaah is grounded in the assertion that failure to restrain the OSP from further confiscation of her assets would lead to irreparable hardship.
The case has been adjourned to February 1, 2024.
Background
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has confiscated monies from Cecilia Dapaah’s house and re-frozen her bank accounts again, after complying with the Court’s order to un-freeze the former sanitation minister’s money and accounts.
The OSP had complied with the ruling and order of the High Court in Accra dated 31 August 2023 by unfreezing the frozen bank accounts and investments of Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
However, a deeper dive into the investigation by the OSP has revealed a myriad of conflicting accounts regarding the ownership and sources of the substantial sums of money that were purportedly stolen from Ms. Dapaah’s residence.
Thus, the Special Prosecutor has determined that freezing Ms. Dapaah’s bank accounts and investments is imperative to facilitate the ongoing investigation, after invoking his statutory authority as stipulated in section 38(1) of Act 959, along with regulation 19(1) of LI. 2374.
This directive, effective from September 5, 2023, mandates the immediate freezing of Ms. Dapaah’s bank accounts and investments.
A press statement dated September 5, 2023, issued by the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng said: “Further, subsequent to the indicated ruling and order of the High Court and the compliance by the OSP with said ruling and order, the Special Prosecutor considers that he has reasonable grounds to suspect that the cash amounts seized from and returned to Ms. Dapaah is tainted property and it is necessary to exercise the power of seizure to prevent the concealment or loss of said cash amounts. Therefore, the Special Prosecutor has again invoked his statutory power under section 32(1)(a) of Act 959 by directing the seizure from Ms. Dapaah of the cash amounts previously seized from her. Authorized officers of the OSP have seized said cash amounts from Ms. Dapaah.
Below is a copy of the press statement by OSP:
