Witness: Saraki used Kwara funds to repay personal loans
A detective with the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Michael Wetkas, on Tuesday narrated to
the Code of Conduct Tribunal how the Senate President, Dr. Bukola
Saraki, allegedly diverted Kwara State Government’s funds as the
governor of the state.
The witness said Saraki, who was the
governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011, used the proceeds of the
loot to repay personal bank loans which the former governor allegedly
expended on the acquisition of landed assets in Lagos and Abuja.
Saraki is being prosecuted on 13 counts
of false and anticipatory asset declaration which he made at the
beginning and at the end of each of his two terms as governor.
Wetkas was the Federal Government’s
first prosecution witness in a trial which only commenced on Tuesday
after about six months of delay caused by a series of interlocutory
applications and appeals deployed by Saraki.
The witness said, “It was discovered that the properties were acquired through the loans.
“The loans were repaid, through cash
lodgements collected from the defendant at the Kwara State Government
House and made in GTB, GRA, Ilorin branch.”
Wetkas said it was discovered that some of the individuals, who lodged funds into the accounts, were bank officials.
He added that the bank officials and
some aides to the former governor collected the funds lodged into the
accounts directly from Saraki at the Kwara State Government House.
He explained that Saraki paid back the
loans with Kwara State Government’s fund through his aides, one of whom
lodged between N600,000 and N900,000 in the former governor’s account 50
times on a particular day.
He said, “Because of the suspicious
inflows into the account, the bank (GTB) officials were invited. The
reason for the invitation of the officials was that some of the
individuals, who were making the cash lodgements into the account, were
bank officials.
“One Oluwatujimu reported to the commission.”
From our interactions with him, we
discovered that some of the lodgements were made through his superior at
the bank, Bayo Daudu, who was the Relationship Manager of the account.
“In our interaction with Daudu, it was
discovered that the cash sums were handed over to him by the defendant
(Saraki) for lodgement in the account.
“According to Daudu, he goes to Kwara
State Government House to collect the money from the defendant for
lodgement 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 N600, 000 and N900, 000 and was lodged in the same
day.
“Subsequently, after that one, Ubi made a
lodgement on the same day about 20 times in the same range of N600,000
and N900,000. Adama 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 Ubi into the same account were from the defendant.
“Adama and Ubi were personal assistants
to the defendant while he was governor. Further investigations revealed
that other individuals, who made lodgements into the account, were
fictitious.
“From the lodgements into the accounts,
we observed and discovered that one Ubi (we don’t have his surname) made
five lodgements of over N37m in cash.”
According to the witness, Saraki failed
to declare many of the landed assets as of 2011 when he completed his
second term as governor.
The prosecution, led by Mr. Rotimi
Jacobs (SAN), crossed the last legal hurdle before it could call its
first witness on Tuesday after the tribunal dismissed another request
for an adjournment by the defence.
The defence team had sought another
adjournment on the basis of a fresh application for stay of proceedings
and appeals, both of which they only filed on Monday, against a ruling
of the tribunal which had been delivered on March 24.
Wetkas, who was led in evidence by
Jacobs, said the EFCC received a number of petitions, accusing Saraki of
abuse of office, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering
shortly after the Senate President completed his second term as
governor.
The witness said this prompted the then
Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, to set up an investigative
team, which he (Wetkas) headed in 2014.
He said his team, which later harmonised
its findings with another broad investigative team, comprising
operatives of the Department of State Services and the Code of Conduct
Bureau, revealed that Saraki operated a number of companies which had
accounts with Zenith and Guaranty Trust banks.
He said investigation revealed that
between 2005 and 2013, a GTB account of one of the firms had an inflow
of about N4bn, with the major source of the fund coming from the N2.5bn
loans which he took from the bank within the period.
He said between 2009 and 2013, the dollar account operated by Saraki’s firm, Tiny Tee Properties Ltd, had an inflow of $6m.
The witness said, “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 funds
and money laundering.
“Sometime in 2014, the then executive
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.
“The investigation report was reviewed
by my team. In the course of our investigation, we discovered that there
were several companies which were linked to the defendant. Some of them
include Carlisle Properties Investment Ltd, Skyview Properties Ltd,
Limkars Ltd, and Tiny-Tee Ltd. Some of the companies maintain accounts
with Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and other banks.
“From the investigation, it was
discovered that the defendant maintained three accounts with the GTB.
The first account is a naira currency account, the second is a US dollar
account and 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 inflow of
about N4bn. The major source of inflow into the account was loans taken
from GTB within the period. The loans were about N2.5bn, and the other
source of inflow into the account was massive lodgements by individuals.
Other inflows into the account were from the companies.
“It was discovered that the money was
used for the purchase of property. The dollar account was also analysed.
The major source of inflow into the dollar account was Tiny Tee
Properties Ltd, which was about $2m. Other source was from bureau de
change companies. And the rest was cash lodgements by individuals.
“The cash in the dollar account between
2009 and 2013 was $6m. We discovered that up to $3.4m 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 1.5m pound sterling to Fortis Bank for the purchase of a property in the UK.”
He said Saraki failed to list the assets in his asset declaration form.
Wetkas added, “My team searched the
office of Carslie Properties and Investment Limited in Lagos at 30 Saka
Tinubu, Victoria Island, Lagos, where the team discovered documents
containing the list of documents of properties linked to the first
defendant.
“Some of them were purchased from Presidential Implementation Committee on Government Properties.
“Some were bought from the Central Bank
of Nigeria. We had to write a number of land registries in Abuja, Lagos
Land Registry and we also wrote the CBN.
“These properties were not in the asset declaration forms.
“In analysing the forms, some infractions were observed on some of the forms.
“We discovered that property, known as
15 Mcdonald, Ikoyi, Lagos, which was purchased through a company, Hitel
Limited, was not declared in the forms. We also discovered that 17A and
17B of Mcdonald, Ikoyi, Lagos, were bought for aggregate sum of N497.2m
in 2006.”
He said the Senate President failed to
declare his property at Plot 2A Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, which he
bought for N325,000,000 between 2007 and 2008, through his company
called Carlisle Properties.
He said the accused also failed to
declare the property at 37A Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, which he
allegedly bought through Carlisle Properties.
He stated that the defendant failed to
declare the property at No. 1 Targus Street, Maitama, Abuja, otherwise
known as 2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja, on September 16, 2003.
The accused allegedly failed to declare
the property at No. 3 Targus Street, Maitama, Abuja, otherwise known as
2482, Cadastral Zone A06, Abuja, which he acquired from one Alhaji
Attahiru Adamu.
He was said to have failed to declare
his leasehold interest in No. 42 Remi Fani-Kayode Street, Ikeja, Lagos,
which he acquired through his company, Skyview Properties Limited, from
First Finance Trust Limited.
His asset declaration forms, which he
submitted to the CCB at the beginning and at the end of each of his
tenure as governor in 2003 and 2011, were admitted as exhibits.
Also admitted was the asset declaration forms he has submitted to the CCB as a senator since 2011.
The defence, led by Mr. Paul Usoro
(SAN), said he would defer his objection to the admissibility of the
documents in his final written address.
Saraki was accompanied to the Tuesday’s proceedings by some senators.
The trial continues on Wednesday (today).
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