Witness confirms CCB did not interrogate Saraki before filing charges

The star witness of the EFCC, Micheal Wetkas, in the on-going trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Thursday disclosed that the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, did not interrogate the Senate President before filing charges against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT.

Wetkas stated this while being cross examined by Saraki’s counsel, Paul Usoro, SAN. He however said the EFCC interrogated Saraki on the charges that were filed against him at the Tribunal.

Below is the exchange between Usoro and Wetkas

“On the face of those telexes, can you please confirm the card account number?”

Wetkas: “It is not there

“The bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), is more competent to talk about international transfers.

“Every transaction in these telexes is specialised and that is why the head of international fund transfer of GTB is listed as a witness in this case, that is Mr Amanzu Nwachukwu. Our investigation was more on the statement of account which shows clear narration of the transactions in respect of transfers to American Express bank.”

Usoro: “Was the defendant interrogated in respect of the telexes?

Wetkas: “Not to my knowledge.”

Wetkas: “I know other members of my team asked him questions relating to his properties, about asset declaration at CCB, whether they were declared appropriately, also about the companies he has interest in locally and internationally. He made statements that I am referring to before other team members, including the petitions; he was confronted with questions on them.”

Usoro: “That statement you said the defendant made, has it been tendered before the tribunal?”

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Wetkas: “Not to the best of my knowledge.”

Usoro: “You were told about it. Who is your colleague that gave you this information?”

Wetkas: “Usman Imam, Musa Sunday. These were the members that briefed me.”

Usoro: “Was an enlarged team of CCB and EFCC involved?”

Wetkas: “My own team stumbled on assets and loans. And the other team was involved in investigating companies and properties.

Wetkas: “It was when we delved into assets that CCB was involved.

Usoro: “Was the defendant interrogated when the CCB was involved?”

Wetkas: “No.”

Saraki’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi, thereafter asked for a week adjournment to enable him to prepare well for the case, but Umar adjourned the matter to April 27.

 

 

 

 

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