Cecilia Dapaah Scandal: Charge Sheet Amended As More Properties Retrieved And Three New Suspected Arrested

• Former minister Cecilia Dapaah has amended her charge sheet in the prosecution of the huge cash stolen from her residence
• The amendment of the charge sheet follows revelations that new properties suspected to have been acquired with her stolen cash have been found
• She has also assumed ownership of some stolen $800,000 that allegedly belonged to her late brother

Police prosecuting the Cecilia Dapaah stolen cash scandal have updated the charge sheet to include four new houses, cars and other properties allegedly acquired with the former minister's cash.

In court on August 8, 2023, police also told the court that three new people had been included in the growing list of suspects in the matter, but one person has been discharged.

Police say two new Honda Acura vehicles estimated to cost over GH¢600,000 Ghana cedis are among the new properties discovered.

Read also

Man jailed 8 years for forgery: Kofi Asante forged BoG licence and was taking GH¢56k daily

Also, the four new houses in the name of the key suspects in the case add to the existing houses and properties identified at Amrahian in Accra, Tamale in the Northern Region, among others.

List of suspects in stolen cash scandal now eight

With the three new suspects brought into the case, the number of suspects is now eight as follows:

1. Patience Botwe, 18, hairdresser (key suspect)
2. Sarah Agyei, 30, unemployed (key suspect)
3. Benjamin Sowah, 29, a plumber
4. Malik Dauda, 34, unemployed
5. Christiana Achab, a trader
6. Job Pomary, a mechanic
7. Yahaya Sumaila, an excavator operator.
8. Franklin Sarakpo (currently at large).

All the accused persons have been slapped with 14 charges.

Per the amended charge sheet, the latest charges comprised one charge of conspiracy, five counts of stealing and eight counts of dishonestly receiving stolen cash.

Read also

Former MP arrested for allegedly defrauding scrap dealer of over GH¢90,000

They are all suspects in the headlines-grabbing scandal for either stealing or illegally receiving monies allegedly stolen from the Abelemkpe residence of former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.

The suspects are said to have stolen $1 million, £300,000, thousands of Ghana cedis and other properties, including expensive jewellery.

Meanwhile, two of the suspects (Sarah Agyei and Christiana Achab), said to be nursing mothers, have been granted a GH¢1 million bail to be justified by three sureties.

The rest have been remanded in police custody.

Cecilia Dapaah assumes ownership of stolen $800,000 initially said to belong to her late brother

Portions of the amended charge sheet also suggest that the former minister has assumed ownership of some $800,000 that was also stolen from her apartment.

She had initially claimed that the money belonged to her late brother, Nana Akwasi Essan II, who gave it to their mother (also deceased) before she died.

Read also

TV stolen, bedroom ransacked: Husband of 'murdered' daughter of Bekwai MCE speaks

An extract of the amended charge sheet presented in court relating to the specific things stolen states:

"Patience Botwe (Hairdresser), Sarah Adjei (unemployed), sometime in the year 2022 at Abelemkpe in the Greater Accra Region and within the jurisdiction of this court, did dishonestly appropriate cash the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ($800,000 USD) the property of Cecilia Abena Dapaah."

Wife of ex-minister's late brother storms court over husband’s $800K

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported in a previous story that the wife of the late brother of Cecilia Dapaah is demanding the $800,000 her husband gave to the former minister's family before he passed.

The money was in the possession of the former sanitation minister, who claims her late mother gave it to her for safekeeping.

The $800,000 is part of the $1 million, €300,000 and thousands of Ghana cedis stolen from the former sanitation minister's home by domestic workers.

Read also

High court judge named among 4 suspects in alleged $190K fraud against France-based businesswoman

Controversial journalist Paul Adom-Otchere disclosed not long ago that he was informed that the $800,000 (part of the stolen $1 million) belonged to the minister's late brother and that only $200,000 belonged to the minister.

Source: YEN.com.gh