The
trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki continued this week at the Code
of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB)
admitting that Saraki did declare his assets and those of his family
members.
The
third prosecution witness and a staff of CCB, Mr. Samuel Madojemu, also
admitted before the tribunal during cross-examination that Saraki
equally declared the assets of his wife, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, both in
Nigeria and abroad, as well as those of his children whose names were
not read out.
At the resumed trial of the defendant on
alleged false declaration of assets, the witness admitted that Saraki’s
assets were recorded in the Assets Forms he submitted to CCB at various
times.
Led in the cross-examination by Saraki’s counsel, Paul
Erekoro (SAN), Madojemu was meant to read out the list of assets
declared by Saraki in his name, those of his wife and his children, when
he held office as Kwara State governor and upon his assumption of
office as a senator.
The witness told the tribunal that the
investigation, which led to the arraignment of Saraki in 2015, was
actually carried out by the operatives of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He noted that his role and those of
CCB were limited to the review of EFCC report and compared same with
the defendant’s Assets Declaration Form.
He added that he was
invited orally into a team that reviewed the EFCC report and compared
the asset form of Saraki, and that CCB has no written report on the
outcome of the revision of the EFCC report.
Answering further
questions, he maintained that former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola
Tinubu who was equally investigated on assets declaration enjoyed the
privileged of being invited by CCB to clarify l discrepancies in his
asset forms submitted to the Bureau.
When asked why same
gesture was not extended to Saraki when his asset forms were been
investigated, he stated that CCB cannot be blamed for not inviting
Saraki because it saw the need to limit its investigation to the asset
forms endorsed by Saraki on oath.
On the alleged double
salary received by Saraki after he had left office as Kwara State
governor and when he was in the Senate, the witness pointed out that CCB
did not consult with the Kwara State government to confirm the claim
but only based its acceptance of the claim on the report of the EFCC and
a bank account of Saraki with the Access Bank.
He said that
he would not know whether it was pension that was being paid to Saraki
by Kwara State government, as he had no access to the Kwara State law on
pension scheme for ex-political office holders.
But when
asked to point out in the Access Bank statement of account where double
salaries were allegedly paid to Saraki, the witness replied: “I just
cited a statement of account of the defendant. I did not study it. So, I
will not be in position so say more on the salary issue.”
Madojemu
also told the tribunal that there was no provision in the CCB Asset
Declaration Form for any declarant to declare properties owned by the
declarant’s companies and that there was no provision for cash lodgment
in the asset forms.
On his earlier evidence that Saraki did
not declare his property in London in respect of any mortgage, the
witness said: “I did not consult with Fortis Bank of London to know
whether the six-bedroom bungalow at South West London was redeemed with
the bank loan.
He however admitted that the six-bedroom
bungalow was declared by the defendant in 2011 and that Saraki also
claimed in his asset form that he acquired a property from proceeds from
sales of rice, sugar commodities and bank loan.
At the end of
the cross- examination, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs applied
for an adjournment to enable him re-examine the witness.
The
counsel told the tribunal that he needed the adjournment because the
witness was cross-examined for four days by the defence.
The tribunal has however adjourned trial till April 5 for re-examination of the witness by the prosecution.