The prosecution witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Michael Wetkas, on Wednesday in Abuja told the Code of Conduct Tribunal that he had no official documents linking the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, to the ownership of alleged London properties.
Wetkas stated this during cross examination by the defence counsel, Paul Usoroh (SAN).
He said the prosecution only obtained unofficial information of the London properties from its foreign partners in London.
The witness said though the partners promised to oblige EFCC with the official documents of the properties, they were yet to do so.
“In our investigation, we normally receive unofficial information from our foreign partners,” he said.
The witness, however, informed the tribunal that Saraki used the N375 million obtained from GTBank to buy House No. 7 and 8, Whittaker Street, London in 2011 and 2015 respectively.
He said the tilled number of the House No. 8, was NGL802235, adding that the second property number was NGL802661.
The witness said he had requested from GTBank to oblige him with the details of the properties and the addresses.
Wetkas said the bank told the EFCC that the addresses of the properties were not disclosed to it.
Wetkas said from the documents available to him, the N375 million was a loan Saraki obtained from GTBank, adding that the Senate president used the said money to buy properties in London.
“When we saw the statement on the mortgage redemption transfer telex, we were convinced that the defendant used the funds to acquire property in London,” he said.
However, EFCC’s counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), lamented the pace at which the defence was handling the case.
Jacobs accused the defence of attempting to confuse and demoralise the witness.
The Chairman of the tribunal, Danladi Umar, adjourned the case till May 25 for continuation of cross examination.
Saraki is being tried for alleged false assets declaration.
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