A large number of prominent Ghanaians, including the former auditor general Daniel Yaw Domelevo, have filed a petition to Parliament seeking a bipartisan probe into the conduct of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) over the investigation regarding a stash of money found in the residence of the former sanitation minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
The group, which also has the outspoken anti-graft campaigner Martin Kpebu, the security analyst Adam Bona, the academic Professor Ransford Gyampo and over 100 other Ghanaians who span different walks of life, argues in its petition that EOCO had more than enough grounds to investigate the former minister for money laundering because she has been inconsistent and unable to give the source of the large sum of cash seized from her residence by the Special Prosecutor.
“The failure to explain the source of the money should have been the cornerstone of the investigation,” the petition which was submitted to Parliament on Thursday (16 May 2024), noted.
It also raised concerns about what the group described as the deliberate refusal by EOCO to take steps to protect the money which had been seized from the residence of the former minister by the OSP.
“Upon receipt of the docket, EOCO did not act timeously to seize the money that the OSP was returning to Madam Cecilia Dapaah as publicly stated by the OSP.”
The petition also said EOCO has been inconsistent in its public commentary and actions relating to the investigation.
This development comes in the wake of the standoff between state anti-corruption agencies investigating the former minister over the stash of money.
The OSP is on record to have said that the Economic and Organised Crime Office lacks the appetite to probe the matter despite the detailed information the Special Prosecutor shared with EOCO.