Include Cecilia Dapaah, husband in money laundering probe of suspects – A-G to Police

Police have been tasked to widen their probe into money laundering and financial crimes relative to the house helps of former sanitation minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.

The Attorney-General’s Office in a legal advice to the police said it is important to include the former minister and her husband in the probe in order to ascertain the source of monies they reported as having been stolen from their home last year.

In the nine-page advice dated July 31, 2023 and addressed to transmitted to the Director of Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the A-G asked that sums of US$200,000 and 300,000 euros said to have been stolen must be investigated in terms of their ownership and source of the funds.

The office recounted the sequence of events leading to the theft of monies as reported by the former minister and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffuor - the complainants.

It also analyzed the docket as prepared by the police and the charges proffered against the five accused persons calling generally for further investigations into the issue of the amount of monies discovered.

The A-G ordered a decoupling of and in some instances total dropping of some charges brought against some of the accused. In the case of one accused person, the A-G asked that all charges brought against him be dismissed.

The concluding part of the A-G's advice read: "We note that you are investigating the acquisition of various properties by the 1st and 2nd accused persons, which investigations border on money laundering.

“The advice rendered above implies that you should broaden the investigations on money laundering and other financial crimes to cover the complainants in order to establish the matters raised above. This is in light of the huge volumes of cash reported by the complainants to have been stolen from their home.

"It is also noted that Cecilia Abena Dapaah until recently was a high level public official whilst her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffuor, in his statement to the Police, indicated his profession as an architect.

"Your investigation into these matters is required to enable the Attorney-General take a comprehensive decision on the case.

"We advise that you comply with the directives on further investigations in this advice and submit the outcome of your investigations to this office."

Read the full legal advice below: