Trail opened Tuesday before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in the case against Senate President, Bukola Saraki after his last minutes efforts to stay proceedings failed.
Saraki, who is facing a 13-count false assets declaration charge, was arraigned before the tribunal late last year. The prosecution has been unable to open trial in view of the several huddles raised by Saraki, including challenging the CCT’s jurisdiction, the competence of the charge, the propriety of his trial before the tribunal, among others, up to the Supreme Court.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling last February, directing Saraki to submit himself for trial before the CCT, Saraki again objected to his trial, and applied for stay of proceedings, which the tribunal rejected yesterday and directed the prosecution to open its case.
Prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) promptly called his first witness, who gave details of how Saraki allegedly siphoned Kwara State’s funds, while he was the state’s governor between 2003 and 2011.
The witness, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Michael Wetkas, who said he was part of the team that investigated the various petitions against Saraki, said investigation revealed, among others, that Saraki was aided by officials of Guaranty Trust Bank in the alleged diversion of Kwara State’s funds.
Wetkas, who was led in evidence by Jacobs, said the investigation of the petitions against Saraki was carried out by a team of investigators drawn from the EFCC, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), among others.
told the tribunal that Saraki used his domestic aides to lodge funds he allegedly looted from the Kwara State treasury, into an account he opened with Guarantee Trust Bank.
He said one of the aides, Abdul Adama, made cash lodgements 50 times on the same account to the tune of between N600, 000 to 900, 000 on a single day, while another domestic staff, simply identified as Ubi, made 20 cash lodgements into the same account in the same day.
The Nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment