Co-chair of the Citizens Movement Against Corruption, Edem Senanau has told the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) that with the witness statements that have been provided, it has enough grounds to begin an investigation into alleged money laundering against former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources Cecilai Abanea Dapaah.
Speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 on Tuesday, May 7, he said “It doesn’t make sense EOCO saying that they have nothing to do because they have not yet investigated.
“What OSP did was provide them the docket with witness statements which they are supposed to look at, draw a conclusion, and then investigate.
“They have not investigated and they said they went to the Attorney-General for advice, the next they said they are asking for a report from the OSP. “The minimum information they need to start the investigation is what they have been provided with, witness statements, not just one or two, but over 20.”
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His comments come after the EOCO refuted claims by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) that it did not request findings conducted with the FBI regarding an alleged money laundering case involving Madam Dapaah.
According to EOCO, upon receiving the referral from the OSP on January 25, 2024, it promptly requested a copy of the OSP’s findings on February 1, 2024, to aid its investigations.
In a press statement issued on Tuesday, May 7, EOCO indicated that its letter dated February 1, 2024, was received at the Front Desk of the OSP by a Field Desk Officer 11, Solomon Tetteh, who duly signed for the letter on February 2 , 2024.
“The Deputy Executive-Director of EOCO, Bashiru Dapilah, followed up with the OSP and discussed with Mr. Emmanuel Basintale, the Director of Investigations of the OSP, the possibility of expediting the release of the report.
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“This discussion was done in the presence of the Deputy Special Prosecutor Ms Cynthia Lamptey. Mr. Basintale assured that as soon as he received clearance from the SP, the report would be released to EOCO to assist in investigations. To date, EOCO has not received any information from the OSP,” part of the statement said.
This comes after the Director of the Strategy, Research, and Communication Division at the OSP, refuted assertions made by the Attorney-General that the office failed to provide details of the corruption investigation conducted with the FBI in the Madam Dapaah case to EOCO.
According to Sammy Darko, contrary to the A-G’s claims, EOCO did not ask for the FBI’s corruption investigations report.
“At no point in time did EOCO request a copy of the FBI report. You notice that in that paragraph that talks about the investigative report, EOCO never said that they requested a report. They rather said that they had not seen the FBI report. So we want to make it very clear,” Mr Darko said.
