OSP’s half-year report does not put Cecilia Dapaah in the clear – Inusah Fuseini
Lawyer and former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, has clarified that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) declaring no immediate acts of corruption in the Cecilia Dapaah case does not simply mean the case has been closed.
According to him, if corruption or corruption-related activities are uncovered after diligent investigations following the OSP’s half-year report, the case can be reopened.
During a recent appearance on TV3’s The Key Points, Inusah Fuseini explained that the OSP’s half-year report is not an outright clearance as it was only providing an update on the cases under investigation, as required by the statutory frameworks regulating the operations of the Office.
“There is no confusion, because no direct and immediate evidence has been found, so if evidence comes up after diligent search, which was not available to the Special Prosecutor, which touches and concerns corruption, they can reopen the case. If as we continue, corruption is finally revealed after diligent search and investigation that she was involved in corruption, they can reopen the case,” he explained “the case is not closed, it simply means that presently they don’t see corruption.”
The former MP explain that the Office of the Special Prosecutor has special jurisdiction in the discharge of its duties, including the investigation corruption, corruption-related offences, and breaches of the Procurement Act, as compared to other investigative bodies with general jurisdiction.
This, according to him, implies that, once the OSP is unable to identify evidence of any of the crimes specified under its special mandate, the Office is required to release the docket to the state body that has the requisite jurisdiction to investigate further.
“That doesn’t mean that the case is closed…the offence might have been committed in another jurisdiction, or the accused person might be successful in destroying the predicate offence, but Article 286 of our Constitution and Section 3 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act clearly establishes that if your unable to proof, shift the burden of proof from the State to the accused, that is the universally accepted way of fighting corruption,” he added.
He further clarified that the OSP’s Half-Year report is in satisfaction of Section 3(3) of the Special Prosecutor Act, which requires that the Office must on a half-yearly basis, publish cases it has investigated, prosecuted and the number of acquittals, convictions and cases pending, to justify its expenditure
“So it is in fulfilment of Section 3(3) of the Act, and by the end of the year he will come, because there have been institutions of State, they have taken and pent monies, but fail to account even when they are called before the Public Accounts Committee,” he clarified, adding that some case were only captured in the report for the purpose of updating the public.
The Cecilia Dapaah saga has remained one of the most controversial scandals in recent years, drawing national attention since 2023, after large sums of unexplained cash were discovered in her home.
While the OSP’s report confirmed that there are no immediate proof of corruption, it pointed to “strong signs of money laundering and financial structuring”, clarifying that such matters fall outside its primary purview.
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