Council of State member, Sam Okudzeto has asserted that, former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah is not obligated to explain the source of the millions found in her home.
The former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) said no law bars people from keeping monies in their homes.
“If you come and you find money with me, do I owe you any duty to explain to you to whose money when nobody has complained that I have stolen his money?
You Ghanaians are not honest people, the number of people, all these huge buildings that they are building, who has asked them where they got the money from, nobody does,” he said in an interview on Accra-based TV station.
The legal practitioner said if anybody has evidence that Madam Dapaah stole the money, then a complaint must be made.
“So you just pick on one individual and you want to make it as if she was just an extraordinary rogue who has stolen money when you don’t even have any evidence that she has stolen money,” he stated.
Mr Okudzeto argued that Cecilia Dapaah cannot be convicted based on circumstantial evidence.
“Do the laws convict people on circumstantial evidence? When you go to the criminal court you must establish the issues beyond all reasonable doubt, that is what the criminal law says. The criminal law is not based upon suspicion or mere allegation,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Director of Programmes and Policy Engagement at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante has said Madam Dapaah must explain to Ghanaians the source of her wealth in contention.
He stated that, Cecilia Dapaah was a Minister at the time when the money was found in her house and that increased her responsibility to provide a clear and transparent explanation for the money to demonstrate that it was legitimately obtained.
Dr Asante believes the failure on the part of the former Minister to clarify matters and clear her name has partly led to the delay in getting to the bottom of the issue.
