FBI does not have jurisdiction in Ghana to clear Cecilia Dapaah — OSP

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has refuted media reports suggesting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has cleared former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah, of corruption allegations.

In its half-year report released on Tuesday, August 19, the OSP stated that after nearly seven months of investigations, including a parallel inquiry by the FBI in the United States, no direct and immediate evidence of corruption was found in relation to seized funds and frozen bank accounts linked to Ms. Dapaah and her associates.

However, the report noted that strong indications of suspected money laundering and structuring were identified, which go beyond the OSP’s direct mandate.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Wednesday, August 20, Samuel Appiah Darko, Director of Strategy, Research and Communication at the OSP, stressed that the FBI has no authority to clear a Ghanaian politician in Ghana.

“You see a media house write ‘FBI clears Cecilia Dapaah.’ How on earth can the FBI clear a Ghanaian politician in Ghana? That is grossly inaccurate, because the FBI does not clear people in Ghana. The FBI doesn’t even have jurisdiction in Ghana to clear someone,” he said.

He explained that the FBI’s involvement was only based on mutual legal assistance after investigators traced aspects of the case to the United States.

“This investigation is primarily by the OSP. Mutual legal assistance brought in the FBI because when, in the course of the investigation, there was an international dimension — some monies said to have originated from the United States — you needed your foreign partner to go into that matter in their country. But that does not mean the foreign partner is the one clearing someone,” Mr. Appiah Darko clarified.