The Trial judge at the Financial and Economic division of the high court, Justice Eward Twum, has ordered the Office of the Special Prosecution to give back all monies seized or taken from the former Sanitation and Water Resources Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, to her within seven days from today, Thursday August 31,2023.
The OSP has also been ordered to hand over keys to the matrimonial home of the embattled politician and her husband within the same period.
Delivered his ruling on a motion filed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor praying the court to grant or affirm the stand of his office after they detected seven accounts of Mrs Cecilia Dapaah at Prudential Bank and Societele General, Justice Twum said the OSP acted wrongly in exercising its powers to conduct a search in the home of the former Minister, which violated conditions precedent before it could make such orders to seize those properties it deemed “suspected tainted property” with corruption.
The court said the seizure was done on July 24, 2023, while the application was filed on August 8, which is 14 days in clear violation of the seven days period legally required.
The court also ruled that, the OSP failed to file the application within the seven days statutory requirement but rather filed the seizure orders out of time and the court cannot support it.
Justice Twum said the court also found no justifiable reasons for the OSP to freeze the accounts of Cecelia Dapaah as the court believed the OSP acted upon speculations and guesses.
