As the trial of President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, finally commenced at the Code of Conduct Tribunal Tuesday, a prosecution witness narrated how the accused used fictitious names to launder billions of naira.
The witness, Michael Wetkas, who is a detective at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told the tribunal that Saraki’s personal assistant, Abdul Adama, paid between six hundred and nine hundred thousand naira fifty times in a single day into the account of his principal.
The witness also revealed there were several companies which were linked to the defendant and that the former governor of Kwara State was also alleged to have maintained three accounts at Guarantee Trust Bank.
According to him, the first account was a naira account, the second, a dollar account and the third was denominated in Pound Sterling.
He said between 2005 and 2013, the account had an in-flow of about N4bn and that a major source of inflow into the accounts was a N2.5billion loan taken from GTB within the period.
The cash in the dollar account between 2009 and 2013 was alleged to be six million dollars while three million dollars was wired to American Express Services Europe Limited.
Earlier on, the trial judge, Danladi Umar, insisted the tribunal had jurisdiction to go on with the case.
This was after spirited efforts by Saraki’s legal team to stall the trial with a motion for stay of proceedings pending the determination of a substantive appeal at the Court of Appeal.
Trial continues on Wednesday by 10am.
