#SarakiTrial: We Have Affidavit From GTB That Documents Had Been Burnt – EFCC Witness

Tahir Sherriff, Abuja

Micheal Wetkas one of the witnesses called in by the EFCC in the ongoing trial of Senate Bukola Saraki has stated that an affidavit from the Guarantee Trust Bank to the EFCC during its investigations of the accounts of Senate President Bukola Saraki showed that the bank may have lost some documents to fire.

Wetkas made the statement while speaking to defense counsel Paul Usoro (SAN) at the Code Of Conduct Tribunal proceedings against Senator Bukola Saraki held in Jabi Abuja on Wednesday morning.

The EFCC investigator added that several banks had also been involved in a series of transactions uncovered during the investigation of the Senate President Bukola Saraki. Among the banks listed: Standard Chartered Bank New York, and American Express Service Bank Europe.

“We (EFCC) sent a letter to the Guarantee Trust Bank to furnish us with documents pertaining to the dollar accounts of Senator Bukola Saraki including instructions, transfers and telexes. We have an affidavit and a police statement which states that some documents were damages, I believe they were damaged by fire.”

Counsel Paul Usoro (SAN) held that no such affidavit was included in the series of documents presented to the court by the EFCC as regards the statement. Wetkas however held that the bank had presented that affidavit to the EFCC.
“I cannot find the affidavit here in these evidences submitted, but we received an affidavit and a police report from the bank regarding some of these documents”.

According to the section labeled ‘Count 11’ on the charge sheet, an amount of $73,223.28 was transferred to the American Express Service Bank Europe through Swift transfer from the dollar account of Senator Bukola Saraki.

Wetkas an EFCC investigator who handled sections of the 43 count charge allegedly gathered from the investigations from which evidence had been presented to the Code of Conduct Tribunal against Senator Bukola Saraki.

Court proceedings will continue daily till the conclusion of the trial.