Cecilia Dapaah’s husband placed under arrest

The Office of the Special Prosecutor has revealed in court that the husband of Cecilia Dapaah, Mr Daniel Osei Kuffour has been placed under arrest. This is a new development that came out during proceedings in court.

During the court session when the Office of the Special Prosecutor moved its application for the freezing of the bank accounts of Cecilia Dapaah after discovering US$590,000 and GHC2,730,000 found at her house in Abelemkpe, the trial judge asked why Cecilia Dapaah is the only person under investigation. The judge’s question was due to the fact that the money in question was found in Cecilia Dapaah’s matrimonial home.

Responding to the question, the Director of Prosecutions at the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Dr Isidore Tuffour told the court that Mr Daniel Osei Kuffour has been placed under arrest. The information according to the counsel for Cecilia Dapaah, is a new piece of information that is not privy to them prior to this revelation.

While the OSP argued that the application for the confirmation of the asset freezing of Cecilia Dapaah is based on the Office of the Special Prosecutor ACT 959 with the aim of preventing the concealment of ill-gotten money, Cecilia Dapaah’s lawyers argued otherwise. Lawyers for Cecilia Dapaah countered by stating that the application is in contravention of the same ACT the OSP is using to move for confirmation.

According to them, Section 32(2) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor ACT 959 mandates that the application for confirmation be done within seven days after the seizure of the assets but the OSP did so after the seven days had elapsed.

Also, Cecilia Dapaah’s lawyers argued that the mere fact that huge sums of money were found at her residence does not necessarily present enough grounds that the money is related to corruption. She contended that the OSP has not proved that the accounts it sought to free have any corrupt-related activities.

However, the OSP argued that it does not have to prove that the accounts are related to corruption before asking for them to be frozen. It said the only requirement for the court to grant the application is to satisfy itself with the fact that the respondent is under investigation for corruption; that the OSP said it believes has already been proven.