The Chief Justice has turned down the petition by the Office of the Special Prosecutor to have the judge presiding over its case with former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah, removed.
In an update on X (formerly Twitter), the OSP said: “By a letter dated 25 October 2023, the Judicial Secretary informed The Special Prosecutor that, the Chief Justice is unable to accede to the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s (OSP) request for his lordship Justice Edward Twum to be recused and removed from all cases involving the OSP pending before him.”
The OSP had petitioned the Chief Justice on the grounds that it believed the High Court judge was prejudiced against the institution and the person of the Special Prosecutor.
The judge in August dismissed a confirmation request from the OSP to have Ms. Dapaah’s assets remain frozen, while also ordering that her assets be returned to her.
Join our WhatsApp Channel for more news
The OSP who decided to comply with that order by unfreezing her bank accounts and large amounts of cash seized at her residence, reseized and refroze those assets, and then applied to the court again for a second confirmation request.
Ms. Dapaah who is still under investigation for suspected corruption and corruption related-offences has been fighting the OSP’s claim that the sources of those amounts are unlawful.
Earlier this month, she filed an application asking the court to grant an expedited hearing to her case, and to stop the OSP from filing additional applications against her, since at the time, the OSP had charged her for failing to comply with a request to declare her assets.
The judge granted the request for expedited hearing, which resulted in a shift of the hearing dates to October 12 instead of October 18.
The case has now taken many turns as the OSP is currently asking the Supreme Court to review the High Court’s earlier decision to grant that expedited hearing.
The OSP also in the course of events has unfrozen five out of her seven bank accounts, saying it was no more “tainted property.”
