Senate President, Bukola Saraki walked free from the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Wednesday after he was discharged and acquitted of all the 18 charges of false asset declaration and other related offences preferred against him.
Read also: Drama as Saraki rejects water he was offered by CCT chairman – Report
The federal government had accused Saraki of making false assets declaration while he was Kwara State governor and in his present position as senator.
The prosecution alleged that in 2011 Saraki received salary and emoluments as governor from the state government after his tenure expired between June 2011 and October 2013. And at the same time, he was receiving salary from the FG as a Senator.
Among others, it accused Saraki of operating bank accounts outside Nigeria while he was governor and as senator, adding that he failed to declare the foreign accounts to CCB.
But yesterday, a two-man panel of the CCT led by its Chairman, Danladi Umar, dismissed the case against the Senate President on the ground that the evidence was unreliable.
One of the reasons Umar advanced for acquitting Saraki was that his defence team clearly discredited evidences against him during cross-examination.
Umar said the evidence of an operative of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Michael Wetkas, the first prosecution witness was weak and unreliable.
He added that of the second prosecution witness, Mr. Amazi Nwachuckwu, Head of Funds Transfer Unit of the Guaranty Trust Bank, could not hold water.
Nwachuckwu had testified that documents relating to allegation that Saraki obtained N375m loan from GTB in 2010, converted it to £1,515,194.53 and transferred the sum to UK to pay for a property in London had been consumed in a fire incident,
Umar concluded that no reasonable court could convict Saraki based on the information presented.
[email-subscribers namefield=”YES” desc=”” group=”Public”]
