Alexander Afenyo-Markin says Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah waited hours at EOCO before being arrested and held overnight in a probe into SIC Life Savings and Loans transactions.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has laid out a detailed timeline of what he says happened to Manhyia South Member of Parliament Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah after the MP walked into the offices of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on his own accord.
EOCO is the state agency that investigates serious financial and organised crime in Ghana.
What the Minority Leader says happened
Speaking to journalists on Friday, 2 October, after visiting the MP in custody, Mr Afenyo-Markin said Mr Baffour Awuah arrived at EOCO at 10:47 a.m. on Thursday, 1 October, in the company of his lawyers and some fellow legislators. The account was reported by MyJoyOnline.
The MP was told he would be attended to shortly, the Minority Leader said, but the wait stretched well beyond that.
"That 15 minutes turned into some 3 or 4 hours," Mr Afenyo-Markin said, adding that officials only called the MP into an interrogation room after 2 p.m.
According to him, there was a further delay of about 30 minutes before the MP was asked to fill out a personal profile form. Officers then stepped out, saying they needed clearance from EOCO's Director of Operations.
When they returned, he said, they asked Mr Baffour Awuah to explain a matter his law firm handled for SIC Life in 2018. The MP cooperated, and that session ended around 4 p.m. It was at that moment, the Minority Leader said, that officers told the MP he was under arrest.
Search of office, then the cells
Mr Afenyo-Markin said EOCO then took the MP to his law office at Dzorwulu in Accra for a search. He claimed some items taken during the search, including vehicle documents, had nothing to do with the investigation.
The MP was returned to EOCO at about 7:30 p.m. and kept in an interrogation room for roughly an hour before being told investigators needed more time and would detain him. He was placed in the cells around 8 p.m., the Minority Leader said, over the objections of lead counsel Samuel Atta Akyea.
On Friday morning, Mr Afenyo-Markin said, the MP was told a second phase of questioning would begin and that bail might come by midday. Instead, no investigator came until after 2 p.m., when EOCO said it wanted to search his home.
The underlying case
The detention is part of an EOCO investigation into transactions involving SIC Life Savings and Loans. The probe has been linked to suspected financial loss, dissipation of public funds and money laundering. Those allegations have not been tested in court and remain under investigation.
Mr Baffour Awuah reported himself to EOCO on 1 October after the Accra High Court issued a warrant for his arrest.
The Minority caucus in Parliament continues to question how the MP has been handled.
