Claim: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) clears former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah, of corruption
Source: Media outlets
Verdict: Misleading
Researched by Gifty Tracy Aminu
On August 19, 2025, multiple media portals made publications and social media posts that suggested that the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had found no evidence of corruption against the former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah.
The publications and posts attributed the source of this information to a recent report from the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP); however, OSP officials have rebutted the claims describing the reports as “Fake.”
In an August 19 Facebook post, Samuel Appiah Darko, Director of the Strategy, Research and Communication Division at the OSP, commenting on publications from three media platforms – Daily Graphic, 3News (TV3 Ghana), and Pulse Ghana said, “A tabloid called Pulse started this fake story. Then, as more fake portals joined in trying to chase trends, TV3 and Graphic Online also jumped on board.”
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The Office also issued a press release that indicated that “the reports are inaccurate and a mischievous misrepresentation of the OSP’s Half-Yearly Report.”
What did the OSP’s report say about Cecilia Dapaah’s case?
The OSP’s half-yearly report, which was published in July 2025, captured the part of the media reports that suggest no evidence of corruption against the former minister; however, the OSP explains that it was a parallel investigation with the FBI and not as portrayed in the media, that the FBI had cleared Cecilia Dapaah of corruption.
According to the report, “after nearly seven months of extensive investigation by the Office and a parallel inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States, no direct and immediate evidence of corruption was found in respect of seized funds and frozen bank accounts linked to Ms. Dapaah and her associates – though the investigation identified strong indications of suspected money laundering and structuring, beyond the direct mandate of the Office.”
Meanwhile, the OSP also highlighted that a new docket was opened with the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on May 29, 2025, as requested by the new leadership on May 14, 2025.
“By a letter dated 14 May 2025, the new leadership of EOCO requested the Office to forward the docket back to EOCO for a review and commencement of investigation. Under the cover of communication dated 29 May 2025, the Office forwarded a duplicate docket of the case back to EOCO,” the report said.
In an interview on JoyNews on August 20, 2025, Sammy Darko, said;
“We are dealing with an international partner here. You see a media house write, FBI clears Cecilia Dapaah. How on earth can the FBI clear a Ghanaian politician in Ghana? It’s grossly inaccurate. Because the FBI does not clear people in Ghana.
“The FBI doesn’t have jurisdiction in Ghana to clear someone. But the problem is this: they took it from a document we have published, and we are simply trying to say that, when you want to take information, present it as a whole, in a manner that will do justice to the fact.”
What will be the FBI’s legal and jurisdictional basis? – Lawyer Anyenini
For further clarification on the issue, GhanaFact contacted Samson Lardy Anyenini, a legal practitioner, who described the articles as “obvious misreporting.”
“OSP has not said the FBI has cleared her. So where did they get that from? Neither has OSP itself said it has cleared her. It has only said the investigation did not establish an immediate direct evidence of corruption, but strong signs of money laundering. And as a result, it has been forwarded to the institution with the relevant mandate to look into it,” he said.
“This doesn’t amount to clearance. So it’s factually wrong and legally untrue to say the FBI has cleared her of corruption, and neither can you say OSP has cleared her of corruption, nor can you say OSP says FBI has cleared her of corruption?” the legal practitioner reiterated.
He added, “What will be the FBI’s legal and jurisdictional basis to do so? Under which Ghanaian or international law? Instead of media houses that follow the tabloid publication to retract and apologise, they tried to rationale and justify and say “they” interpreted ‘no direct, immediate evidence’ to mean the FBI has cleared her.”
Verdict
Therefore, the claim that the FBI has cleared Cecilia Dapaah is misleading.
