Cecilia Dapaah’s Story On Cash Transfer By Dead Brother Hard To Believe-Kpebu

Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has said that the claim by Former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah that monies transferred from her dead brother’s account were for payment of his children’s fees, is difficult to believe.

Kpebu says that this claim should have come out long ago when the issue first emerged.

“I can’t believe Madam Dapaah’s story, this should have come out long ago,” he said on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 on Monday, October 9.

“This story is hard to believe,” he stressed.

Madam Dapaah made her comments while responding to claims by the Office of the Special Prosecutor that the transfer in question was suspicious since the brother has been dead for some time now.

The OSP had filed an affidavit seeking confirmation of a new seizure of the funds.

She explained “…the truth is that funds were transferred from an account in the name ‘The Late Nana Akwasi Essan’ to which I am a signatory.”

“The funds were transferred to me for payment of the school fees of my late brother’s children” lawyers of the former Minister stated in court documents.

She further explained that the said funds “were transferred from Cal Bank from an account in the name ‘The Late Nana Akwasi Essan’ to which I am a signatory adding that “this account was opened with funeral donations collected by Cal Bank at my late brothers funeral.”

“The correct account name is conspicuously stated in Applicant’s Exhibit OSP18 and the Applicant could easily have ascertained the mandate on the account from Cal Bank. The funds are transferred to me for payment of the school fees of my late brother’s children,” she added.

On Monday, July 24, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) placed Cecilia Abena Dapaah under arrest.

She was interrogated by officers of the OSP, a statement said.

“At 11:55 GMT on 24th July 2023, Cecilia Abena Dapaah who resigned from the position of Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources on 22nd July 2023 was placed under arrest by the Office of the Special Prosecutor in respect of suspected corruption and corruption-related offenses regarding large amounts of money and valuable items reportedly stolen from her residence. Ms Dapaah is being questioned by authorized officers of the OSP,” the OSP said in the statement.

Madam Cecilia Dapaah tendered her resignation in a letter to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Saturday, July 22 barely 24 hours after news of some foreign cash stolen from her bedroom came to light.

“I intend to cooperate fully with all the state agencies to enable them fully establish the facts,” she assured in her letter.

“I have no doubt that at the end of the processes it will be established that I have conducted myself with integrity during my period in public service and I will be fully exonerated from all the allegations,” she further said.

Madam Cecilia Dapaah was said to have kept $1 million, €300,000 and millions of undisclosed Ghana Cedis at home.

These monies were allegedly stolen by two house helps, for which they are standing trial at an Accra Circuit Court.

She had earlier indicated that there were inconsistencies with the facts and the public reports.

She, therefore, insisted in her resignation letter that the figures put out in the public domain do not correctly reflect what she and her husband submitted to the police in their statement.

The former lawmaker, however, admits she understands the import of such stories around someone of her stature.

“I am resigning, therefore, because I do not want such a matter to become a preoccupation of government and a hindrance to the work of government at such a crucial time.”

3news