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.
The amendment to the original 13 counts added
fresh Counts 3, 14 and 16 .
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.
0 Comments