Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, has been arrested by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) \u2014 stepping into the centre of an escalating investigation tied to SIC Life Savings and Loans Company Limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The arrest came this morning, Thursday October 1, after the MP presented himself voluntarily at EOCO\u2019s Accra headquarters around 10 a.m. He was taken into custody as part of ongoing inquiries, though EOCO confirmed he is cooperating with the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shortly after his arrest, investigators executed search warrants at two key locations: his private residence and the premises of his legal practice, Sarkodie, Baffour Awuah and Partners \u2014 confirmed by Ghana Broadcasting Corporation reporting. These searches form part of a court-authorised evidence-gathering push, following an arrest and search warrant granted by the High Court on September 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What EOCO is Probing<\/strong> In a statement issued today, the agency pledged to examine all available evidence, follow every legitimate lead, and uphold the constitutional rights of those involved. It also urged the public not to jump to conclusions about guilt before the full investigative and legal processes have run their course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How the Standoff Unfolded<\/strong> According to the agency, it had twice invited the MP for questioning back in February, but received no response. When EOCO went before the High Court to secure its warrant, it told the judge previous attempts to get his attendance had failed, and raised concerns that relevant documents might be hidden, altered, or destroyed. The court ordered the arrest be carried out through the Speaker of Parliament \u2014 a detail reported by the Ghana News Agency and published by Ghana Business News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The MP\u2019s Counter-Account<\/strong> Upon becoming an MP, he says he referred the matter to the Clerk to Parliament for guidance. His version of events: firm representatives attended EOCO meetings on March 4, March 18, and April 30 \u2014 supplying information and a formal written statement \u2014 and he received no further communications from the agency after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These remain his stated position; EOCO has not publicly validated this account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday\u2019s searches mark a significant next step, yet authorities have not disclosed what \u2014 if anything \u2014 was recovered. It is vital to note: neither the arrest nor the searches confirm guilt, nor do they resolve the conflicting narratives between the MP and the investigators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EOCO has said it will release further updates when appropriate and legally permitted. For now, this remains an active, developing investigation \u2014 with competing claims still awaiting full testing against evidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" EOCO has arrested Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah after his voluntary appearance, as investigators conduct searches linked to an SIC financial probe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[285,284,283,286],"class_list":["post-1130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-eoco","tag-manhyia-south","tag-nana-agyei-baffour-awuah","tag-sic-life-savings-and-loans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1132,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions\/1132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghanapunch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The investigation centres on serious allegations: criminal conspiracy, financial loss to SIC Savings and Loans, money laundering, tax-related offences, and associated matters. EOCO stresses these remain allegations under investigation \u2014 the arrest itself does not amount to proof of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tensions boiled over publicly on September 23, when EOCO officers attempted to arrest Baffour Awuah at the Accra High Court complex. That operation was later called off \u2014 EOCO said it acted to avoid endangering public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baffour Awuah has strongly disputed claims he refused to cooperate. He says the February invitations were directed at him in his capacity as a partner at his law firm \u2014 which acts as legal counsel to SIC Life Savings and Loans, the entity at the heart of the probe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A critical gap persists: EOCO has not spelled out precisely what information it sought personally from Baffour Awuah that was not covered by his law firm\u2019s appearances. The agency has also not released details of specific transactions, the scale of any alleged financial loss, or exactly how the MP is said to be linked to each suspected offence \u2014 leaving the full basis of the allegations unclear to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n