The Attorney-General has accused Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah of helping facilitate a settlement that allegedly resulted in a GH¢9.85 million financial loss to SIC Life Savings & Loans Company Limited.
The allegation forms the basis of three criminal charges filed against the MP at the High Court’s Specialised Jurisdiction Division in Accra on October 3, 2026.
Mr Awuah has been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, intentionally causing financial loss to a public body and money laundering.
The State’s case centres on Mr Awuah’s role as legal counsel for SIC Life in a debt recovery case involving Equity Savings and Loans Limited.
According to the charge sheet, SIC Life engaged Mr Awuah’s law firm, Sarkodie Baffour Awuah & Partners, in May 2020 to recover a debt of GH¢6.3 million.
The firm was to receive 15 per cent of the principal sum claimed as professional fees, together with one per cent for expenses.
The case subsequently resulted in a High Court judgment in July 2022 ordering Equity to pay SIC Life GH¢10.86 million.
As part of efforts to enforce the judgment, a 31.93-acre parcel of land belonging to Equity at Adamorobe, Oyibi, was attached in December 2023.
The charge sheet states that a revised judgment dated May 28, 2024, increased the amount owed to GH¢14.85 million, including interest and costs, while the attached property had a reserve price of GH¢25 million.
The State alleges that despite the attachment, Equity purportedly sold the property to Eco Swiss Investment Limited on March 14, 2024, for GH¢21.76 million.
Investigators allegedly found that Eco Swiss had not been incorporated at the time it purportedly acquired the property.
The prosecution further alleges that Mr Awuah was instrumental in facilitating the transaction.
By July 2024, Eco Swiss had reportedly paid only GH¢5 million of the agreed purchase price and had challenged the attachment, resulting in the auction process being stalled.
It was against this background that SIC Life, Equity and Eco Swiss entered into Terms of Settlement on July 18, 2024.
Under the agreement, SIC Life accepted GH¢5 million from Eco Swiss as full and final settlement of the revised GH¢14.85 million judgment debt.
The State alleges that the settlement also provided for 15 per cent of the original judgment debt to be paid to Mr Awuah and his law firm as legal fees, amounting to GH¢2.2 million.
An additional GH¢1 million was earmarked for auctioneer’s fees.
The prosecution contends that the then Managing Director of SIC Life signed the settlement terms in conspiracy with Mr Awuah and that investigators found no evidence of prior approval for the arrangement.
The State has also placed a GH¢1 million payment at the centre of the money-laundering charge.
According to the charge sheet, after receiving the purported legal fees, Mr Awuah issued a cheque for GH¢1 million to the then Managing Director of SIC Life on November 11, 2024.
The prosecution alleges that the payment represented almost half of the legal fee received and that Mr Awuah has not provided investigators with an explanation for the transfer.
The allegations form the basis of the State’s claim that the settlement and subsequent financial transactions caused SIC Life a loss of GH¢9.85 million.
Mr Awuah voluntarily surrendered to the Economic and Organised Crime Office on October 1, 2026, after a High Court warrant was issued on September 30.
He was detained overnight and is expected to appear before the High Court’s Specialised Jurisdiction Division.
Parliament has also expressed concern over his continued detention, with Speaker Alban Bagbin calling for restraint and fairness in the use of coercive powers.
The charges are allegations by the State and have not been proven in court. Mr Awuah is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
