High profile corruption: Bukola Saraki in alleged N1.36bn fraud
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In our review of high-profile corruption trials today, former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, was arraigned over N1.36 billion alleged fraud when he was the governor of Kwara State.
Read on:
Bukola Saraki – N1.36 billion fraud
First in the list of former senators facing corruption charges is the former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki (PDP, Kwara Central, formerly APC).
While the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) discharged and acquitted him of the 13-count charge bordering on false assets declaration when he was the governor of Kwara State, the Court of Appeal reinstated 3-count charge and discharged him of the rest.
Both Saraki and the Federal Government have appealed against the Court of Appeal Judgment at the Supreme Court.
It will be recalled that his colleagues, under the auspices of the erstwhile Unity Forum, led by Senator Kabiru Marafa (APC, Zamfara Central) had asked him to resign and face the charges.
But the then Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, and his supporters in the defunct Like Minds Group said he would resign only if he was found guilty after trial.
After Bukola’s tenure as the Senate President ended, the EFCC claimed former Senate President Bukola Saraki withdrew N12 billion in cash from the treasury of the Kwara State Government while he was governor of the state between 2003 and 2011.
The money was then allegedly used by Saraki to offset a N1.36 billion bank loan he used in purchasing homes located at 15, 15A, 17, 17A and four flats on Macdonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, hence the decision of the commission to seize the properties.
The anti-corruption agency therefore asked Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja to rescind the ex parte order preventing the commission from investigating and prosecuting Saraki.
The EFCC said this in a counter affidavit to Saraki’s originating motion with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/507/2019.
However, in a counter affidavit deposed to by Ojilibo Stanley on behalf of the EFCC, the agency said they had established a case of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and conspiracy by the immediate past Senate President.
The EFCC said Saraki had through his companies between 2005 and 2006 taken loans worth N1.36 billion from the Guaranty Trust Bank and Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank).
The commission said in a bid to offset the loan, the ex-governor began to divert N100 million from the coffers of the state monthly.
The affidavit stated that on February 28, 2005, the Presidential Implementation Committee on the sale of Federal Government Landed Properties wrote a letter conveying to Saraki the approval of then Minister of Lands and Housing for the sale of properties at 15 and 17 Macdonald Road, Ikoyi.
The EFCC said sequel to the letter Saraki wrote a letter dated March 8, 2005, to Guaranty Trust Bank requesting for N200 million loan to finance the acquisition of the properties on March 24, 2005, GTB approved the loan to partly finance the purchase of the properties.
The anti-graft agency said on October 11, 2006, another personal loan of N380 million was granted to Saraki by GTB to partly finance the acquisition of properties located at 17 and 17A Macdonald Road, Ikoyi.
The commission further claimed that on January 30, 2007, a personal loan of N380 million was again granted to the former governor to partly finance the same properties.
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It said on April 28, 2009, another personal loan of N400 million was obtained by Saraki to develop the same properties.
Saraki had stated in an affidavit he deposed to in support of the originating motion that acting EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, was on a revenge mission because of the role he (Saraki) played in blocking his confirmation as EFCC chairman.
He said: “Apart from the instigation by my political adversaries, my close contacts have confirmed to me that the 4th respondent (EFCC) renewed its harassment as a way of punishing me for the decision of the Senate not to clear the acting chairman of the EFCC, Alhaji Ibrahim Magu, to be appointed as the substantive chairman of the commission.
The EFCC denied being controlled by the All Progressives Congress, adding that the fresh investigation of Saraki was different from the ones related to the one conducted by the Code of Conduct Bureau. Trials have commenced on the matter.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday, 2nd December, 2019 secured an order of the Federal High Court in Lagos for the forfeiture of two houses in Ilorin, Kwara State belonging to a former Senate President.
The EFCC told the Court it uncovered monumental fraud perpetrated in the treasury of the Kwara State Government between 2003 and 2011, when Saraki was the Governor of the state.
The affidavit filed in support of the ex parte application stated that the move for the forfeiture of the houses followed the findings of the EFCC after investigation and “the report of a committee set up to review sales of Kwara State Government during the reign of the Governor of Kwara State in the year 2003 and 2011.”
It was also averred that the common pattern was that after payment of monthly allocation by the Federal Government to the Kwara State Government, a cumulative sum of not less than N100m will be deposited into the Kwara Government House account.
The affidavit stated that upon the payment of the said N100 million, same will, in turn, be withdrawn in cash by one Mr Afeez Yusuf from the Kwara State Government House, Ilorin’s account in bits and brought to the Government House.
The EFCC said it believed that Saraki developed the two properties with proceeds of unlawful activities.
After granting the order as prayed, Justice Aikawa directed the EFCC to publish the temporary forfeiture order in a national newspaper and adjourned till December 17 for anyone interested in the properties to appear before him to show cause why the properties should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
Read also:
High Profile Corruption: Senators Ekweremadu, Akpan In Trouble For Non-Declaration Of Assets
[This Publication includes part of a compendium by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) covering corruption cases as at 22nd of November, 2019.
