Saraki’s aides made 70 lodgements into his account in one day — EFCC

Full-blown trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, kicked  off before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, sitting in Abuja, yesterday, with the Federal Government producing its first witness to testify against him.

This came as Saraki said he was glad that his trial before the CCT has finally commenced, yesterday. The trial commenced shortly after Saraki, through his consortium of 80 lawyers, failed to persuade the Justice Danladi Umar-led tribunal to suspend hearing on the 13-count criminal charge bordering on his alleged false declaration of assets.

Saraki had at the resumed sitting on the matter, yesterday,  prayed the tribunal to stay further proceeding on the matter to enable the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal determine an appeal he lodged against his trial. He went before the appellate court  to challenge the jurisdiction of the tribunal to try him on the basis of a charge he said was legally defective.

The defendant, who predicated his application on the provision of Section 305 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, urged the tribunal to, in-line with judicial hierarchy, hands-off the matter to enable the higher court determine the propriety or otherwise of the charge.

Meanwhile, after listening to arguments from the defence lawyer, Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN, and the prosecution counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, the tribunal declined to stay the proceeding, even as it gave the Federal  Government the nod to call its first witness.

Immediately the tribunal refused Saraki’s application, a Principal Detective Superintendent with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Michael Wetcast, mounted the witness box and disclosed how the Senate President used two of his domestic staff to divert public funds into his personal bank accounts.

Wetcast,  who headed a three-man team that investigated the alleged “suspicious transactions” involving the defendant, told the tribunal that the funds which he said were looted from Kwara State treasury, was diverted into an account the defendant operated with Guarantee Trust Bank.

He said whereas one of Saraki’s aides, Abdul Adama, on a single day, made cash lodgements 50 times on the same account to the tune of between N600, 000 and N900, 000, another domestic staff simply identified as Ubi, made 20 cash lodgements into the same account the same day.

The witness told the tribunal that Saraki operated three different bank accounts with GTB. According to the witness, “the defendant was governor of Kwara State between 2003. Shortly after the expiration of his second tenure in 2011, the commission received several petitions from various groups.

“One of the groups was Kwara Freedom Network. They wrote several petitions all bordered on allegation of abuse of office against the defendant, misappropriation and money laundering. These petitions were assigned to other teams for investigation.

Companies linked  to Saraki

“While investigation was ongoing by the team, sometimes in 2014, the then Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde,  received an intelligence report of suspicious transactions relating to the defendant. “On receipt of the report, he set up a team of three investigators headed by my humble self.

The other members were Chris Odofin and Nora Bako. Our task was to conduct further investigation on the intelligence report and submit our findings. “The investigation report was reviewed by my team and in the course of further investigation we discovered that there were several companies linked to the defendant. “Some of these companies include Cailise Properties and Investment Limited,  Skyview Properties Limited, Limkers, Tiny Tea Limited and several others.

3 accounts with GTB

“Some of these companies maintain account with Guarantee Trust Bank, Zenith Bank Plc, Intercontinental Bank now Access Bank. In th cause of the investigation, we discovered that the defendant maintains three accounts with GTB. “The first is naira currency account, the second is US dollar currency account, while the third is pound sterling account.

“The accounts were analysed in the course of the investigation. The first account which is naira account was analysed an it was discovered that between 2005 and 2013, the account had total inflow and outflow of over N4 billion. “We also discovered that the major source of inflow into the account was loans taken from GTB within the period.

The loan disbursement into the account  was about N2.5 billion and other source of inflow into the account was massive cash lodgements by individuals. Other inflow was from Cailise Properties and Investment Limited. “My lord, it was also discovered that most inflows into the account were basically used for acquisition of property. “The dollar account was also analysed.

We discovered that the major source of inflow into the account was from Cailise Properties and Investment Limited, which was over $2 million. Another source of inflow into the account was from Bureau de Change companies, as well as cash lodgements by individuals.

“The total turn over of the dollar account between 2009 and 2013 was over $6 million. The total inflow into the account we discovered that up to $3.4 million  was wired to American Express Services Europe Limited, which was used to fund the defendant’s American Express Service Newyork Card account number, 374588216836009.

“The other part of fund into the dollar account was changed into pound sterling and also wired into the Europe to Fortis Bank for purchase of a property in London. The amount wired was over £1.5 million. “From the telex transfer documents made available to the investigation, and also from the position of GTB which was invited, it is suggested that the account belongs to the defendant.

70 lodgements in one day

“The cash given to him were normally lodged at GTB  located at GRA in Illorin. From the lodgements, we discovered that one Ubi, who we don’t have his second name, on a single day, made five separate lodgements of N77 million. “We also discovered another name, Abdul Adama, who on a single day made lodgements 50 times on the same account. The sum was dropping between N600,000 and  N900,000.

“Shortly after that lodgements by Adama, the same Ubi made lodgements on the same day 20 times in the same range of N600,000  and N900,000. “We looked for Adama and invited him. He also reported and stated that the cash sums were handed over to him by the defendant and stated further that the sum  lodged into the same account by Ubi was from him.

“Both Adama and Ubi were personal assistants to the defendant while he was governor. Adama was personal assistant to the defendant on domestic matters. “After these individuals made the lodgements, the pattern of the cash movement changed. The range of the figure (N600, 000 to N900, 000) was still the same, but what changed was that this time, several individuals were making the lodgements  in large numbers on the same day.

“Further investigations revealed that those individuals were fictitious. The investigation team took up the matter with the bank and they said that they had done the needful by drawing a report and forwarding same to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, and they finished evidence to that effect.”

Meantime, the tribunal, yesterday, adjourned the matter till today to enable Saraki’s lead counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, cross-examine the witness.

Loyalists weigh resignation option for Saraki

Meanwhile, ahead of the expected judgment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, on the trial of Senate President, Saraki, his supporters in the Senate are considering options to manoeuvre him and the institution of the Senate towards a safe landing.

Among the options considered at the end of the first full day of trial at the residence of the Senate President, yesterday, was the option of resignation. However, that option was being put on hold upon mutterings of a lack of a clear succession plan.

A source disclosed that Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, senators and their colleagues in the All Progressives Congress, APC, were divided on which of the two parties would produce a possible successor.

If trial is fair, I’ll be vindicated —Saraki

Saraki said yesterday’s proceedings had given him confidence that if the trial was conducted fairly, he would be vindicated.

He noted that even though the prosecution tried to bring in some dramatic narratives, it was clear that they were merely thrashing around and hoping to titillate the public with salacious tales.

He added that he was hopeful, however, that when the time came, his lawyers would have the opportunity to present his case.

Source Vanguard.ng

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