By Anti-graft campaigner Vitus Azeem expresses surprise at the decision of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to abandon the investigation of money laundering accusations against Abena Dapaah.
The Office of the Attorney General (AG) and Ministry of Justice have concluded that there is no sufficient basis for the Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO) to conduct money laundering investigations into the activities of former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
The Special Prosecutor (OSP) had earlier in the year dropped charges against the former minister and referred the case to EOCO for money laundering investigations.
However, upon reviewing the documents submitted by EOCO, the AG’s office has advised against pursuing money laundering investigations into the matter by EOCO.
In a discussion on Morning Starr with Francis Abban on Thursday, Mr. Azeem clarified that EOCO was only tasked with investigating, not prosecuting, Madam Dapaah.
“It is surprising because the matter was referred to EOCO to investigate and not rely on the docket of the OSP and take a decision. Not to ask the Attorney General for his advice they were expected to investigate the matter to establish whether there was evidence of money laundering or not.
“This also requires them to find out how she got the money, and whether was there criminality involved in her acquisition of this huge sum of money. This is what we expected EOCO to do. So I am surprised that the Attorney General is advising that they cannot proceed,” Mr. Azeem stated.
He continued: “It is not prosecution because there is no evidence for you to prosecute. You are yet to gather whether there was money laundering or not.”
