A witness with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Michael Wetkas, on Tuesday, told the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) how the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, allegedly laundered billions of naira when he held sway as governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, the witness, a detective with the EFCC, alleged that the personal account of the Senate President at Guaranty Trust Bank Plc had an inflow of about N4 billion between 2005 and 2013.
“When the defendant was governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011, the commission received several petitions from various groups. One of the petitioners was Kwara Freedom Network. They brought several petitions all bordering on abuse of office by the defendant, misappropriation of public fund and money laundering.
“Sometime in 2014, the then chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, received intelligence reports of suspicious transactions involving the defendant. He set up a team of investigators. Our task was to investigate the intelligence reports,” he said adding that the investigation revealed that there were several companies which were linked to the defendant.
Some of the companies, he said included, Carlisle Properties Investment Ltd, Skyview Properties Ltd, LimKvars Ltd, and TIly-lie Ltd.
The witness said some of the companies maintained accounts at Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Zenith Bank, Access Bank, and others, pointing out that Saraki maintained three accounts at GTB.
The first account, according to him, is a naira currency account; the second is a dollar account, while the third is a pound sterling account.
“The naira account was analysed, and it was discovered that between 2005 and 2013, the account had an in-flow of about N4 billion. The major source of in-flow into the accounts was loans taken from GTB Plc within the period.
The loans were about N2.5 billion, and the other source of in-flows into the account was massive lodgments by individuals. Other in flows into the account were from the companies. It was discovered that money was used for the purchase of property.
“The dollar account was also analysed. The major source of in-flow into the dollar account was Tily-lie Properties Ltd, which was about $2 million. Another source was from Bureau de Change companies and the rest was cash lodgments by individuals.
“The cash in the dollar account between 2009 and 2013 was $6 million. 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 New York card account number 374588216836009.
“The defendant wired over £1.5 million to Fortis Bank for the purchase of property in the United Kingdom (UK). After that, because of the suspicious in-flows into the account, the bank (GTB) officials were invited. The reason for the invitation of the officials was that some of the individuals making the cash lodgment into the account were bank officials. One Oluwa Tujimu reported to the commission.
“From our of interactions with him, we discovered that some of the lodgments were made through a one Bayo Daudu, who was the relationship manager of the account. In our interaction with Daudu, it was discovered the cash sums were handed over to him by the defendant for lodgment in the account.
“According to Daudu, he goes to Kwara State government house to collect the money from the defendant for lodgment into the account at the GRA Ilorin branch of GTB.
“We discovered one name, Abdul Adama, who made transaction 50 times into the account in a single day. The sum was broken down to between N600,000 and N900,000 and was lodged the same day,” the witness said.
He added that subsequently after that, one Obi made a lodgment on the same day about 20 times in the same range of N600,000 and N900,000.
“We looked for Adama and invited him. He reported that the cash sums were handed over to him by the defendant and stated further that the cash sums that were lodged in by Obi into the same account were from the accused.
“Adama and Obi were personal assistants to the accused while he was governor,” the witness said.
Earlier, the Code of Conduct Tribunal had over-ruled Saraki’s application by his counsel, Paul Usoro, for an adjournment on the ground that Saraki had appealed the decision of the tribunal, which assumed jurisdiction to hear and determine the charges preferred against him by the Federal Government.
Usoro told the tribunal that there was an application for stay of proceedings at the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to entertain the matter.
“Our prayer is for an adjournment not for stay of proceedings. We are asking for an adjournment based on our motion filed before the Court of Appeal for stay of proceedings of the trial before this tribunal,” Usoro had said.
Mr Danladi Yakubu Umar ruled that the commencement of trial could not be stopped by the application, which he noted offended the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
Reacting, Saraki said he was glad that his trial had eventually commenced before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
He said the proceedings of Tuesday had given him confidence that if the trial was conducted fairly, he would be vindicated.
Saraki said though the prosecution tried to bring in some dramatic narratives, it was clear that they were merely thrasing around and hoping to titillate the public with salacious tales.
He added that he was hopeful, however, that when the time comes, his lawyer would be able to present his case.
(Tribune)
