Private authorized practitioner Martin Kpebu has noticed that the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) ought to have seized all the cash the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) launched to the previous Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah.
The Accra High Court ordered the Office of the Special Prosecutor to return all monies seized from the embattled former Sanitation Minister.
Furthermore, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, mentioned at a press convention in Accra on January 25 that the OSP had discontinued the case and was referring the identical to EOCO for continued investigation and additional motion.
But upon a request for recommendation by EOCO on the matter, the Attorney General’s workplace, in a letter dated April 25, 2024 mentioned it discovered that the OSP didn’t submit the report on its collaborative investigation to EOCO.
Additionally, the workplace famous the OSP has not responded to EOCO’s request for its findings.
According to the Attorney General’s workplace, the docket offered to EOCO solely incorporates the OSP’s letter transmitting the docket, the diary of motion, statements taken throughout the investigation, and letters written by the OSP to different establishments just like the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and banks for inquiries.
“In the absence of the identification of any criminality associated with the properties retrieved from the suspects, the OSP’s referral to EOCO for investigations to be conducted into money laundering is without basis,” parts of the A-G’s advisory to EOCO learn.
Speaking on The Key Points on Saturday, Martin Kpebu reiterated that the EOCO’s workplace ought to have been current to obtain all of the monies on the time the OSP introduced it was returning the seized monies to the previous minister.
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“Once he [Kissi Agyebeng] withdrew [the application for confirmation of the seizure], then the judge said return the money within 72 hours, as soon as that was done…I said on Saturday, January 27, that EOCO be sure that at the time Kissi Agyebeng is handing over the money, you are on-site to also collect. Because you are now going to money laundering investigations.”
“Because OSP based his application on corruption and corruption-related offences, and later Mr. Agyebeng said he wasn’t getting evidence so he was pulling back. So EOCO was going to take over to do money laundering,” he acknowledged.
The human rights lawyer has additionally known as on the Attorney-General’s workplace to withdraw its advisory letter to EOCO, asking EOCO to not probe the case additional.
He maintained that it was mistaken for the A-G to subject such recommendation to EOCO.