A request for an injunction has been filed in the Accra High Court against a petition calling on the Speaker of Parliament to investigate the case of former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
The applicant, Derrick Addo Gyamfi, is seeking a true and proper interpretation of the law to establish whether Parliament has the power to conduct an investigation into the Cecilia Dapaah case.
Private lawyer Martin Kpeb, security expert Dr Adam Bonaah and several Ghanaians have petitioned Parliament to investigate the case of the large amount of cash found at Cecilia Dapaah’s home.
They called on Parliament to set up a bipartisan committee to investigate why the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) had failed to do its job in this regard.
For Kpebbe, there is more to investigate in this matter involving Cecilia Dapaah.
“We want Parliament to set up a bipartisan committee to investigate how EOCO failed in its duty to investigate Cecilia Dapaah.”
“Look into the source of income because when you see this amount of money in a household it’s an indication of money laundering,” he said on TV3’s Key Point on Saturday, May 18.
Several prominent Ghanaians, including former Auditor-General Daniel Yau Domelevo, have submitted a petition to Parliament calling for a bipartisan investigation into the conduct of EOCO in its investigation into the safe discovered at the residence of Mrs Cecilia Dapaah.
According to the group, anti-corruption vocal advocate Martin Kpebbu, security analyst Dr Adam Bona, Professor Ransford Gyampo and over 100 other Ghanaians from various walks of life in the petition alleged that EOCO had ample grounds to investigate the former minister for alleged money laundering as he has been inconsistent about and unable to disclose the source of huge sums of funds seized from his home by the Special Prosecutor.
“The failure to explain the source of the funds should have been the linchpin of the investigation,” the petition, submitted to Parliament on Thursday, May 16, 2024, states.
The group also expressed concern over EOCO’s alleged deliberate refusal to take steps to safeguard funds seized by OSP from the former minister’s residence.
“EOCO, after receiving the dossier, did not act in a timely manner to seize the monies to be returned by the OSP to Mrs. Cecilia Dapaah as publicly stated by the OSP.”
The petition also states that EOCO has been inconsistent in its public comments and actions during the investigation.
The development comes following a standoff between state anti-corruption agencies investigating the former minister over his concealment of funds.
The OSP is on record as saying that despite detailed information being shared with it, EOCO was not keen to investigate the matter.