‘Criminal law can’t turn every poor commercial judgment involving state entity into an offence’ – Victoria Bright

International corporate lawyer and entrepreneur Victoria Bright has cautioned against automatically treating the controversial SIC Life settlement at the centre of the Economic and Organised Crime Office’s (EOCO) investigation into Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah as a criminal matter.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, she said the fact that a commercial settlement involving a state entity may subsequently appear unwise does not, on its own, establish criminal conduct.

Her comments come as EOCO investigates Baffour Awuah over alleged criminal conspiracy, financial loss to SIC Savings and Loans, money laundering, tax-related offences and other matters. The MP voluntarily reported himself to EOCO on October 1 after the High Court issued a warrant for his arrest and authorised searches linked to the investigation.

The investigation includes questions surrounding a settlement reached in a matter involving SIC Life Savings and Loans and Equity Savings and Loans, where the amount originally invested by SIC had increased substantially with accrued interest before a settlement was reached.

Victoria Bright said investigators must establish whether the settlement was properly authorised and examine the documentation surrounding the transaction, including who approved the settlement and what instructions were given to the lawyers.

She stressed that “a bad settlement is not automatically a crime”, arguing that commercial decisions can sometimes prove unwise without necessarily constituting criminal offences.

"So these commercial decisions are made all the time, and criminal law can't turn every poor exercise of commercial judgment involving a state entity into an offense. We need to be careful."

At the same time, she cautioned that describing a transaction as a settlement cannot shield an arrangement that is otherwise shown by evidence to be unlawful.

Her position is that the investigation should therefore focus on the evidence and the authority behind the transaction, rather than assuming either criminality or political persecution.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.