Kissi Agyebeng meets FBI officials in Washington to gain insights

Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng has met with officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) at their Washington, D.C. headquarters.

The purpose of the OSP’s visit to the FBI was to gain insights into their organizational structure, operations, and best practices, and enhance collaboration and capacity building, a tweet by the OSP said on Monday, October 23.

The Special Prosecutor met with Jason Beachy, the Acting Assistant Director of the International Operations Division at the FBI, and a host of Mission chiefs.

“During the visit to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the OSP was received by Arun G Rao, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and Richard Goldberg, Deputy Director of Consumer Protection Branch (CPB) within the Justice Department’s Civil Division,” the tweet said.

The visit comes at a time the two organizations are partnering to investigate former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources Cecilia Abena Dapaah.

The investigations, according to a note from the OSP primarily focus on examining assets and financial transactions within the US.

In the note released by the OSP on Wednesday, October 11, this is “to ascertain the lawfulness of Ms. Dapaah and her associates' wealth, both in the context of their funds transitioning from Ghana to the United States and vice versa”.

The FBI, OSP partnership came after lawyers of the former Sanitation Minister filed an affidavit at the Human Rights Division of the High Court, seeking an interlocutory injunction on investigations being conducted by Ghana's OSP.

The former Bantama MP had described as “unfair, unreasonable, capricious, arbitrary and ultra vires” the re-seizure of her monies and re-freezing of her accounts and property.

“I am advised by Counsel and verily believe same to be true that to prevent further violation of my constitutionally guaranteed rights and rendering my application for judicial review otiose, it is imperative that the Respondent is restrained from continuing his investigation pending the determination of my said application,” her affidavit in response to OSP's suit prayed.

The OSP aside its suit in investigating corruption and corruption-related offences against Madam Cecilia Dapaah had charged her for failing to declare her income upon a lawful demand.

But, according to the OSP, she failed to do so after 30 days contrary to Section 69(1)(a) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017, Act 959.

“As at close of business on 5 October 2023, the Accused had willfully failed, without lawful excuse, to return the duly completed statutory forms to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, more than thirty (30) days after the service of the notice and forms to her.”

The former minister is expected to file a response to this charge.

-3news.com