Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Dr Justice Srem-Sai has confirmed that the Accra High Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah. He said the MP has refused since February 2026 to honour a criminal investigative invitation from the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
The court granted the warrant after EOCO’s lawyers argued that the Office had exhausted reasonable means of securing the legislator’s voluntary attendance and feared that documents relevant to its probe could be concealed, altered or destroyed. The order authorises EOCO to arrest Hon Baffour Awuah and to search for and seize relevant documents.
Deputy AG Outlines Crimes Behind the Baffour Awuah Arrest Warrant
Dr Srem-Sai’s confirmation offers the clearest official account yet of what EOCO is investigating. Until now, the Office had not publicly disclosed the full details of its inquiry, leaving the MP’s version of events largely unchallenged in public.
“Mr Awuah’s imminent arrest is part of an inquiry by EOCO into a complaint of unauthorized financial transactions at SIC Life Savings & Loans Company Ltd resulting in crimes of financial loss, dissipation of public funds, money laundering, among others”.
Dr Justice Srem Sai, Deputy Attorney General and Minister for Justice
The disclosure raises the stakes considerably. The reference to dissipation of public funds signals that the state views the matter as more than a private commercial dispute, and the mention of money laundering places the case among the most serious financial offences EOCO handles.
Dr Srem-Sai did not name any amounts, dates or other individuals connected to the complaint, and EOCO has yet to release a detailed account of the transactions under scrutiny.
EOCO Says Invitations Went Unhonoured
EOCO has linked its attempted arrest of the MP to the ongoing investigation. The Office says it issued two invitations to Mr Baffour Awuah in February 2026 before it turned to the court.
Those invitations, in EOCO’s account, failed to bring the legislator before investigators, and the Office moved to secure judicial backing to compel his appearance.
The Deputy Attorney-General’s statement now aligns the government’s position firmly with that account, describing the MP as having refused the invitation rather than having responded through other channels.
Manhyia South MP Disputes EOCO’s Account
Hon Baffour Awuah rejects the suggestion that he ignored investigators. He says the investigation concerns SIC Life Savings and Loans Company, a client of his former law firm, Sarkodie Baffour Awuah & Partners.
The MP says he referred EOCO’s February invitation to the Clerk to Parliament. A representative of the law firm then appeared before EOCO investigators on March 4, March 18 and April 30, according to Mr Baffour Awuah, and supplied the information requested, including a written statement.
He has also insisted that the February EOCO letters never personally summoned him, a claim that now stands in direct conflict with the Deputy Attorney-General’s statement. Hon Baffour Awuah had earlier described EOCO’s attempt to arrest him as an attempted kidnapping, an accusation that drew wide public attention before the court issued its order.
SIC Life Savings and Loans and the GH¢14 Million Settlement
The standoff has turned fresh attention to financial dealings between SIC Life Savings and Loans and Equity Savings and Loans.
Hon Baffour Awuah says SIC Life engaged his former firm to recover about GH¢3.5 million the company had invested with Equity Savings and Loans. By his account, that sum, together with accumulated interest, grew to about GH¢14 million before the parties reached a negotiated settlement.
The MP presents the engagement as routine legal work for a client seeking to recover its money. The Deputy Attorney-General’s description of the complaint as one involving unauthorized financial transactions suggests investigators see the matter differently, although neither EOCO nor Dr Srem-Sai has said whether the settlement itself forms part of the inquiry.
What the EOCO Arrest Warrant Means Next
The court order gives EOCO judicial authority to arrest the Manhyia South MP and to carry out the search and seizure it requested. The Office no longer needs the legislator’s cooperation to bring him in for questioning or to take possession of the documents it wants.
The case also places the relationship between investigative agencies and Parliament under scrutiny. Hon Baffour Awuah chose to route EOCO’s invitation through the Clerk to Parliament rather than respond personally, and whether that step satisfied EOCO’s request now sits at the centre of the dispute.
With the Justice Ministry publicly backing EOCO’s position, the matter has moved from a war of words to an enforceable court order, and the coming days will test how the Office, the MP and Parliament each respond.
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