The trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki at the Code of<\/p>\n
Conduct Tribunal (CCT) resumes on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
At Tuesday\u2019s hearing the chief prosecution witness, Mr Micheal Wekpas,
\nduring cross-examination admitted that neither he nor his team
\ninvestigated some of the exhibits he had tendered before the Tribunal.<\/p>\n
Mr Wekpas, who is an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes
\nCommission (EFCC), under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Kanu
\nAgabi, told the court he did not investigate the petitions whose exhibits
\nwere tendered before the court<\/p>\n
He said that even though his investigation stemmed from an intelligence
\nreport obtained by the EFCC, he did not have the report, neither was the
\nreport before the Tribunal.<\/p>\n
The witness was first questioned on exhibit 11, 12, and 13 which were
\npetitions written by a group known as Kwara Freedom Network, inviting the
\nEFCC to investigate the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board and
\nborrowings for projects.<\/p>\n
Mr Wekpas, who had earlier told the Tribunal that the petition formed the
\nbases of his team\u2019s investigation, however, said he did not investigate
\nthe petition, rather another team carried out the investigation.<\/p>\n
When asked why he tendered documents he did not investigate, the witness
\nsaid he carried out the directive of the prosecution.<\/p>\n
Also under cross-examination, the witness admitted that investigating the
\nassets declaration of the Senate President did not form part of his
\nschedule of duty.<\/p>\n
He explained that three exhibits, which were assets declaration forms of
\nthe defendant, were duly examined and stamped by the Code of Conduct
\nBureau when the documents were shown to him<\/p>\n
Mr Wekpas said there was nowhere in the petition that they investigated
\n\u00fdwhere Saraki\u2019s asset declaration was in contention.<\/p>\n
He said the investigation of the defendant was based on intelligence
\nreport obtained by the former Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde and
\nnot the three petitions tendered as exhibits and that such intelligence
\nwas either provided orally or produced in writing by people who asked to
\nremain anonymous.<\/p>\n
The witness stated that the six assets declaration forms submitted by
\nSenator Saraki to the Code of Conduct Bureau were not investigated by his
\nteam.<\/p>\n
He, however, said his team was directed to investigate the intelligence
\nreport alone.<\/p>\n
According to him, the intelligence report is not before the Tribunal as
\nexhibit.<\/p>\n
Attempt by the prosecution to seek for a long adjournment to enable it
\nstudy the documents tendered as exhibits was rejected by the Tribunal.<\/p>\n
The defence is expected to continue the cross examination of the witness
\non Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s session comes a day after the first prosecution witness alleged
\nthat the defendant failed to declare houses in the United Kingdom, as well
\nas the upscale areas of Ikoyi, Lagos and Abuja.<\/p>\n
The witness, Mr Michael Wetkas, an operative of the Economic and Financial
\nCrimes Commission (EFCC), was led in evidence by the lead prosecuting
\ncounsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN).<\/p>\n
He gave the names of various companies allegedly operated by the Senate
\nPresident while he was the Governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.<\/p>\n
The prosecution witness tendered the Senate President\u2019s asset declaration
\nform for the year 2011 as exhibit, with the defence counsel reserving its
\nobjection to a later date.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the trial, the Chairman of the CCT, Mr Danladi Umar had
\ndeclared that he would not suspend the trial of the Senate President to
\nallow the Senate to continue sitting since the red chamber was not on
\ntrial before the tribunal.<\/p>\n
Dr Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of
\nasset while he was Governor of Kwara State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) resumes on Tuesday. At Tuesday\u2019s hearing the chief prosecution witness, Mr Micheal Wekpas, during…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n