Saraki failed to declare N375m London property – Witness

The first prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Mr. Michael Wetkas, told the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Tuesday that  Saraki bought a property worth N375m in London in 2010 which he did not declare.

Saraki is being prosecuted on 16 counts, including false and anticipatory asset declaration which he allegedly made when he was the governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2007.

Wetkas said under cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN),  that the Senate President neither declared the London property nor the liability of the loan in his asset declaration form submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau at the end of his second term as governor in 2011.

Usoro disputed Count 11 of the charges, in which Saraki was accused of failing to declare his liability of N375m loan and the London property.

Usoro said the Senate President was not bound to declare the N375m as his liability because as of the time he made his end of tenure asset declaration as governor on June 3, 2011 his debit balance was about N36m.

But Wetkas said while it was true that that the debit balance on the account was N36m as of May 31, 2011, Saraki failed to declare the property he allegedly acquired in London with the loan.

The witness said, “There are two issues. The issue of the loan and the issue of property he used the loan to buy in London.

 http://www.punchng.com/saraki-failed-declare-n375m-london-property-witness/