A financial Analyst at Delax Finance has asserted that the 1 million dollars and 300,000 euros, among other cash, stolen at the house of the Former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, by her househelps could not have been made legally.
According to the financial analyst, 1 million was such a huge amount to have been made by the former minister, who is only known to be a politician without a known business that was in the public domain.
He made these assertions when he was speaking on A1 radio’s Day Break Upper East show with Mark Smith on the case of the republic versus five others, which named the former Ministry and her husband as the complainants.
He explained that ”an average middle-class earner like a doctor, lawyer, chartered accountant, or even a businessman who earns GH20,000 a month would require 48 years to make 1 million dollars given an exchange rate of 1 dollar to 11.5 cedis, and this is even with the assumption that the person is not spending a pesewas from this amount.”
“An average Ghanaian works for 33 years; thus, if he starts work at the age of 27, this tells you that one can never make such an amount in his or her life in Ghana by working, knowing it is impossible for one to save all earnings in a month.”
According to him, the former minister, as a public officer, could not have made such an amount considering her income as a minister, which he “doubts would be more than GH25,000 a month”.
He therefore called for her arrest and a swift investigation by the Financial Intelligence Center to establish the source of the money which he believed could not be obtained legally, adding that the president must show keen interest for her arrest and investigation.
Brief facts of case
According to the amended charge sheet and brief facts presented in the Accra circuit court, Ms. Botwe, also known as Maabena, was a house help of the complainants, Daniel Osei Kuffour and his wife, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
The court heard that Ms. Agyei was also a former house help of the complainants, who reported the case to the police in June of this year after detecting the theft of cash and their personal effects.
Ms. Botwe was caught entering the couple’s room with a duplicate key and upon entering the room, Mr. Kuffour found Ms. Botwe hiding behind the door.
After the incident, the complainants realized that some of their properties were missing. Ms. Botwe was arrested and released on police enquiry bail but went into hiding with her boyfriend, Benjamin, in Tamale.
While in Tamale, they allegedly rented a 3-bedroom apartment and a store and upon intelligence, the police arrested Ms. Botwe, leading to the retrieval of US$40,000 and GH¢72,619.70 from their apartment.
Ms. Botwe allegedly used the stolen money to buy a 3-bedroom house, a double-decker refrigerator, a water dispenser, a television set, a washing machine, and a chest cooler, among other items.
She also bought a Hyundai Elantra for Benjamin, who later sold it to purchase a Honda Civic. Ms. Botwe also gave her father GH¢50,000 and GH¢1 million to her ex-boyfriend, Malik.During interrogation, Ms. Botwe implicated Sarah as her accomplice.
The case is set to continue on August 2, 2023.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Gilbert Azeem Tiroog|Ghana
