EOCO reopens Cecilia Dapaah case

The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has reopened the case against former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah. This decision follows a new request from EOCO's leadership.

At a news conference in Accra, Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng confirmed this development. He stated that EOCO requested the case file again. The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) responded by sending a duplicate for review.

The OSP began its investigation in July 2023. This was regarding suspected corruption involving large sums of money linked to Dapaah and her associates. After seven months, no direct evidence of corruption was found.

However, there were strong indications of suspected money laundering and structuring. These issues fell outside the OSP's direct mandate. In January 2024, the OSP referred the case back to EOCO for further investigation into these matters.

The case stalled when EOCO returned the file to OSP. They argued that money laundering is not a substantive offence without a predicate offence. Therefore, they believed they could not investigate further.

A year later, interest in the case renewed. On May 14, 2025, EOCO's new leadership requested the docket again for review and investigation. On May 29, 2025, OSP sent a duplicate docket back to EOCO.

Agyebeng noted that this docket would help EOCO start its own investigation into aspects beyond OSP’s mandate. He assured that OSP would fully support EOCO in its review and any further actions needed.