Deputy Attorney-General Dr Justice Srem-Sai has accused Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah of deliberately refusing to honour an invitation from the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
Dr Srem-Sai described the decision as a “deliberate and principled position”, insisting that nothing prevented the lawyer from appearing before EOCO.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, October 1, Dr Srem-Sai was responding to Mr Baffour Awuah’s claim that he had visited EOCO on several occasions after receiving its invitation but was not arrested.
According to the Deputy Attorney-General, those visits demonstrated that the MP had no difficulty accessing EOCO’s premises but chose not to use the opportunity to respond to the invitation.
“And that is why I say that after hearing all these things, all his explanations for a whole week and comparing them with the facts of the case, this is someone who has clearly refused to honour the invitation. He had no hindrances,” he said.
“It is just a deliberate and principled position to take that I did not honour the invitation.”
Dr Srem-Sai also rejected the argument that EOCO should have arrested Mr Baffour Awuah during one of his visits to the office while he was there representing clients.
He said arresting the lawyer in such circumstances could have created the impression that he was being targeted while carrying out his professional duties.
“Imagine this gentleman accompanied a client with EOCO and EOCO decided to pick him up at the time that he was with the client. We would have come out to say that he was being arrested because he went there to represent a client and he was being arrested as a lawyer,” he said.
According to Dr Srem-Sai, such an incident could have strengthened Mr Baffour Awuah’s argument that the authorities were targeting him because of his work as a legal practitioner.
“That is exactly what we did. And in that situation, the facts would have clearly supported his case,” he added.
He maintained that EOCO was not expected to arrest a lawyer who was at its premises representing a client, describing such an action as potentially more serious than the circumstances that later unfolded at the High Court.
“And I can understand why EOCO would never arrest him when he was there on behalf of his client,” he said.
“That would have been a very serious thing to do to a lawyer who is on the premises to represent his client and then law enforcement then arrest him during the process. That would have been more serious than what happened in front of the court.”
Dr Srem-Sai argued that Mr Baffour Awuah could have used one of his visits to EOCO to respond to the invitation after completing his professional duties.
“In any case, if he had the energy, the time, to do his professional law work by visiting EOCO, then why did he not take one of those moments just after visiting EOCO to inform them that, oh, I received this invitation, I finished with my professional work, now I’m submitting myself to that,” he asked.
Dr Srem-Sai further argued that the MP’s repeated visits to EOCO showed that he was not prevented from going there.
“He always goes there according to his will and leaves peacefully and goes home. So it is not even true that he has any restraint from going to EOCO,” he said.
The Deputy Attorney-General also questioned Mr Baffour Awuah’s suggestion that EOCO should have arrested him during one of his visits rather than expecting him to respond to the invitation.
“In fact, that statement actually convicts him more than any other statement. That you have been going there, they have invited you, you won’t go, but when it comes to your professional law practice, you will go,” he said.
“And then you turn around to tell the public that, if they wanted me, they should have arrested me as one of those moments that I was there. How does that even make any practical, reasonable proposition?” he added.
EOCO has previously said Mr Baffour Awuah was invited twice in February 2026 to assist with an ongoing investigation but failed to honour the invitations. The MP, however, has disputed that account, saying the correspondence was directed to him in his former capacity as Senior Partner of Sarkodie Baffour Awuah & Partners and concerned an investigation involving a client of the firm.
By:Rachael Djabakie