Saraki Faces Fresh Charges, Appeals CCT Ruling
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| Senate President Bukola Saraki |
Category: Nigerian National News
The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to amended 16 counts preferred against him by the Federal Government before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
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He was accused in Count 3 of abusing his office between October 2006 and May 2007 while he was the Kwara State Governor.
Under Count 3, the prosecution accused
Saraki of obtaining a loan from the Guaranty Trust Bank to acquire the
properties known as No. 17A and 17B McDonald, Ikoyi, Lagos in the
aggregate sum of N497,200,000.
He was said to have bought the properties from the Implementation Committee of the Federal Government Landed Properties.
He allegedly repaid the loan to GTB
through various lodgments made into his account on his behalf by his
aides when he was Governor of Kwara State and his account officer using
funds which he allegedly handed over to them in cash at Kwara State
Government House, GRA, Ilorin.
The acts under the Count 3 are said to
be “contrary to the government policy against corruption and abuse of
office and against the interest of the people of Kwara State.
In Count 14, the prosecution accused
Saraki of failing to declare his interest in a foreign credit card
account to which he allegedly transferred huge sums of money while being
Governor of Kwara State.
He was said to have failed to declare
his interest in the American Express Service Card with No:
374588216836009 at the end of his second term as governor.
He allegedly transferred huge sums of
money in dollars from his Guaranty Trust Bank domiciliary account No.
441441953210 in Nigeria.
In Count 16, Saraki was accused of
continuing to receive salary and emoluments as Governor of Kwara State
and from the Federal Government as a senator between June 2011 and
October 2013.
Originally, the Federal Government
preferred against Saraki,13 counts, including charges of false and
anticipatory asset declaration, as well as operation of foreign
accounts, which he allegedly committed while being the Governor of Kwara
State between 2003 and 2011.
Saraki was re-arraigned before the
tribunal on Thursday because of the amendment to the charges which added
three fresh counts to the original 13 counts.
There have been two amendments of the original 13 counts which now bring the counts against the Senate President to 16.
The first amendment which brought in
additional two counts was made on April 18, 2016 while the latest made
on April 27, 2016, added one fresh count.
The charges dated April 18 were withdrawn on Thursday.
The latest amendment was introduced by
the prosecution and accepted by the tribunal chairman, Danladi Umar,
after overruling the defence led by Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN).
The tribunal ruled on Thursday that
contrary to Usoro’s contention, the prosecution, under section 216(1) of
the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, was not required to file a
motion to give the reasons for the amendment before it could be
accepted by the tribunal.
Earlier before the re-arraignment the
CCT on Thursday dismissed an application asking its chairman, Danladi
Umar, to disqualify himself and withdraw from Saraki’s trial.
Saraki, had in his motion argued by his
lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, on Wednesday, asked Umar to disqualify
himself on the grounds of likelihood of bias in the handling of the
trial by Umar.
But in the ruling of the two-man panel of the CCT on Thursday, the tribunal held that the application “lacked absolute merit.”
It upheld the opposition of the
prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), to the motion, to the
effect that contrary to Oluyede’s claim, the EFCC had cleared him of the
bribery allegations.
“The AGF cannot prosecute without sufficient evidence from investigative agencies,” Umar said.
He added that the incumbent AGF, Mr.
Abubakar Malami, had said he (Umar) had been cleared while appearing
before a House of Representatives’ committee which was petitioned with
respect to the bribery allegation.
He recalled that Malami told the
committee that he (the AGF) stood by the March 5, 2015 letter of the
EFCC to Adoke, indicating that there was no sufficient evidence to
prosecute him (Umar).
He said, “The issue of having a case to answer before the EFCC is over.
“The application lacks absolute merit and it is hereby dismissed in its entirety.”
The CCT on Thursday adjourned till May
10 for further cross-examination of the first prosecution witness, Mr.
Michael Wetkas, after Saraki pleaded not guilty to the 16 counts.
Defence counsel, Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN),
had asked for three weeks adjournment to enable the defence team to
“take further instructions” from their client and prepare for the case
in view of the “fundamental and substantial amendment” to the original
charges”.
But Jacobs insisted that the three weeks
requested by the defence was too long in view of section 396 (5) of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.
The CCT panel said that it would strike a balance by adjourning for 10 days and then fixed the next hearing date for May 10.
Meanwhile, Saraki has appealed against
the Thursday’s ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal in which it
refused to disqualify Umar from further participating in the trial.
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