Cecilia Dapaah threatens Joy News with court action over “false” and “reckless” reportage

Lawyers for former Sanitation and Water Resources Minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah have written to the Multimedia Group, demanding an unqualified apology for making “false statements” alleging $5 million and GH¢48 million were found in her bank accounts.

Madam Dapaah’s lawyers said despite the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) rebuttal the reportage earlier on 10th August 2023, media outfit continued to publish the alleged falsehood across its various social media platforms.

In their letter to the Multimedia Group, lawyers for Ms. Dapaah said the narrative was corrected by a statement from the OSP, but despite that, the media house continued with publications on the matter laden with malice.

“Despite this rebuttal, at 7pm of 10th August 2023, your outfit continued to post material alluding to the false statement that $5m and GHS48m had been found in our client’s bank accounts” lawyers for the Minister, Sam Okudzeto and Associates, noted in the letter to Multimedia.

“It is evident that your outfit’s countinuous reportage on our clients matter has been steeped in the purported reliance on information from unidentified sources and a reckless regard for truth and accuracy”, the letter added.

Accordingly, Ms. Dapaah demanded a retraction and apology within 3 days, failing which she would drag the media house to court.

“We are by this letter demanding that your outfit retracts the false information it has published and apologizes to our client within three (3) days from the delivery of this letter (using the same means and coverage with which it published the false information), failing which we have our client’s firm instructions to institute legal action and bring the full force of the law to bear on your outfit for the damage and injury your reportage has caused and keeps causing.”

On August 10, it was revealed that the OSP had found a sizeable sum of US$590,000 in cash during its investigation of the former Minister’s Abelemkpe home.

The report further stated that an astonishing sum of GH2.7 million in cash was found there.

Following that, the Special Prosecutor ordered the freezing of seven of the former minister’s accounts.

Several media outlets, including Joy News, stated that their sources at the OSP reported that $5 million and GH¢48 million were found in the former minister’s Prudential and SG bank accounts after the report became public.