Senate President, Bukola Saraki, says he can’t keep up with the records and details of charges of his false asset declaration trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Saraki was on September 22, 2015, arraigned on 13 counts of false asset declaration before the CCT.
The Senate President is accused of making false asset declaration in the forms submitted by him to the Code of Conduct Bureau during his two terms as Governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.
Saraki was also alleged to have “corruptly acquired many properties while in office as Governor of Kwara State, but failed to declare some of them in the said forms earlier filled and submitted.”
The allegations against him also includes an anticipatory declaration of assets upon his assumption of office as governor and also sending money abroad for the purchase of property in London as well as operating a foreign account while serving as governor.
The Senate President however, said in a new affidavit that the charges against him were alleged to have been committed between five to 14 years ago, and as such, he has no recollection of the records
and details of what he’s being accused of.
He stated this in the affidavit, which was written in support of his fresh application seeking the quashing of the charges against him at the CCT.
In the application, dated and filed on March 4, 2016, Saraki stated that the charges filed against him were not in the interest of justice, but politically motivated and filed in violation of due process as well as his right to fair hearing.
He said he was denied fair hearing as neither the CCB nor the Attorney-General of the Federation confronted him with any anomaly in the four assets declaration forms.
Saraki asserted that if he had been informed of any inconsistencies in his asset declaration forms, he would have corrected them immediately.
The affidavit reads in part: “The facts relating to these matters are no longer fresh in my memory quite apart from the fact that I have lost many of my records pertaining to them.”
“I am not aware of any petitions challenging my declarations, and the bureau (CCB) has never drawn my attention to any. I would promptly have corrected or explained (the reason for) any alleged discrepancies or inconsistencies in my asset declaration had my attention been drawn to them.”
Ynaija
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