The Financial and Economic Division of an Accra High Court has ordered the Office of the Special Prosecutor to return all monies seized from the embattled former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah.
The Court orders that this ruling be complied with within seven days.
The Court also said it cannot confirm the freezing of her bank accounts and other properties.
Cecilia Abena Dapaah opposed the application by the OSP to freeze her accounts and seize her property.
It followed the OSP’s filing of a motion for confirmation of the order of freezing and seizure of the former Minister’s tainted property.
The OSP said to facilitate investigations, it considered it necessary for the issuance of a “freezing order against the bank account and investment of the former Minister at Prudential Bank Limited and Societe General Ghana in accordance with Section 38 (1) of Act 959 and regulation 19 (I) of LI 2374”.
Subsequently, the OSP conducted searches in three residential properties associated with the former Minister at Cantonment, Abelemkpe and Tesano all in Accra.
In a virtual sitting of the High Court, Victoria Barth, who represented Madam Dapaah, contended that the application of the OSP was brought in flagrant of the OSP’s own enabling law and sought to perpetrate the arbitrary exercise of powers based on nothing more than suspicion fueled by misrepresentation of facts and media frenzy.
Dr Isidore Tufour, Counsel for the OSP, argued that the application of the OSP was in line with the Special Prosecutor’s Act, Act (959) to prevent the concealment of a property believed to be tainted with corruption.
The court, after listening to the arguments of the parties, fixed August 31, 2023, to rule on whether it could confirm the OSP’s application.
