Baffour Awuah case: Documents should show who approved GHC5m SLC settlement – Vickie Bright
by Gabs · MyNewsGh.comLawyer Vickie Bright says the key question surrounding the GHC5 million settlement involving SIC Life Savings and Loans is whether it was properly authorised.
Speaking on a programme hosted by Samson Lardy, Bright said investigators should establish who approved the settlement and what authority the people involved had before determining whether wrongdoing occurred.
“One of the questions we should be asking ourselves is whether the five million cedis is a commercially defensible compromise of a difficult judgment debt and whether that compromise, if so, was properly authorised,” she said on Newsfile on JoyNews.
The issue has become central to EOCO’s investigation into transactions involving SIC Life Savings and Loans.
Bright said the question of authority should be capable of being answered through company records rather than speculation.
“For me, the authority to settle is important here. Who authorised the settlement on behalf of SIC?” she asked.
She suggested several documents that could help establish what happened, including board resolutions, delegated authority, instructions to lawyers and the agreement governing the transaction.
“Was there a board resolution? Was authority delegated? What instructions were given to the lawyers? What does the contract with SIC say? Who actually approved the figure of five million cedis?” she said.
Bright also said investigators should establish what advice management received before deciding whether to continue enforcing the judgment or accept a settlement.
“If properly authorised management made a commercial decision after receiving advice, then that presents one factual picture,” she said.
The situation would be different if an individual without authority had agreed to give up a substantial judgment debt.
“Conversely, if someone without authority surrendered a substantial judgment debt, then that presents a different matter altogether,” Bright said.
However, she warned against treating an unfavourable commercial decision as automatically criminal.
“A bad settlement is not automatically a crime,” she said.
Bright explained that commercial entities, including state institutions, make decisions that may later appear unwise.
“Criminal law can’t turn every poor exercise of commercial judgement involving a state entity into an offence,” she said.
At the same time, she said describing a transaction as a settlement does not automatically protect it from criminal scrutiny.
“Calling something a settlement can’t also immunise an otherwise criminal arrangement,” Bright added.
EOCO’s case against Awuah is now before the court. He has pleaded not guilty to charges including intentionally causing financial loss to the state and dissipation of public funds.
Source: MyNewsGh.com
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