.Saraki: Application, an abuse of court process
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has sought permanent forfeiture of two houses in Ilorin, Kwara State belonging to former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to the Federal Government before Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Crimefacts.news reports that the EFCC had, on December 2, 2019, obtained an order temporarily forfeiting the houses, Plots No. 10 and No. 11 Abdulkadir Road, GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State, to the Federal Government.
At Friday’s sitting, the Commission urged the Judge to order the final forfeiture of the buildings on the grounds that they were built with funds allegedly stolen from the coffers of Kwara State.
The Commission also told the court that Saraki diverted not less than N10bn belonging to the state and that the sum of N1.09bn spent on the two buildings was part of the alleged stolen funds.
In an affidavit filed before the court, Bilikisu Buhari, one of the counsel to the applicant, EFCC, said investigation revealed that Saraki allegedly diverted N100m on a monthly basis from the federal allocation to the state when he was in office.
“My Lord, the N100m was usually diverted from the Kwara State Government account to the account of the Kwara State Government House.
“Upon the transfer, one Mr Afeez Yusuf, acting on Saraki’s instructions, usually went to withdraw the money from the Kwara State Government House account and took it to the Government House.
“After the funds were stacked in the Kwara State Government House, the money would then be fraudulently dissipated and taken away in cash by Messrs Abdul Adama, Ubi Ofem and Ubi Austin, acting on the instructions and direction of Dr. Bukola Saraki in breach of public trust.
“In this scheme of fraud alone, about N10bn was fraudulently diverted from the treasury of the Kwara State Government.
“That part of the proceeds of the aforementioned fraud were reasonably suspected to have been co-mingled with other funds used for the development of the property sought to be forfeited.”
However, Kehinde Ogunwunmiju, SAN, counsel to Saraki, opposed the motion seeking the final forfeiture of the properties to the FG.
Ogunwunmiju said the houses were built from his client’s legitimate earnings.
“The sum of N252.2m out of the N1.09bn used for developing the property represented what Saraki was paid for the development of a five-bedroom apartment, which he was entitled to as a two-term governor of Kwara State.”
Ogunwunmiju, therefore, drew the attention of the Judge to the Governor and Deputy Governor (Payment of Pension) Law 2010 of Kwara State, which stipulates that an elected two-term governor of the state is entitled to a five-bedroom and four-bedroom duplex, respectively, at any location of their choice within Kwara State.
“But rather than allow the state to build the house for him, Saraki chose to collect N252.2m, so he could add money to it to build the house to his taste,” he said.
Ogunwunmiju also contended that if the allegation that the document leading to the release of the N252.2m was forged by an official of the Kwara State Government, “the payment to Saraki was not illegitimate because it was provided for under the law.”
Ogunwunmiju, therefore, urged the court to dismiss the EFCC’s application for what he described as an abuse of court processes, adding that the same issues had been taken before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court where Saraki was vindicated.
However, counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, insisted that inasmuch as Saraki could not explain the source over N700m, which he added to the N252.2m to develop their houses, the houses were liable to be forfeited.
Justice Aikwa adjourned to April 27, 2020 for judgment.
