PA paid up to N900k into Saraki’s GTB account ’50 times in a single day’- EFCC
New insight was provided in the ongoing case
against Senate President Bukola Saraki when
Michael Wetkas, a detective at the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday
testified on how the Senate President allegedly
used fictitious names to launder billions of naira.
Testifying against the senate president at the
Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), the EFCC
detective said, among many other revelations,
that Abdul Adama, one of Saraki’s personal
assistants, made transaction 50 times into the
former governor’s account in a single day, broken
down to N600,000 and N900,000 on each
occasion.
“When the defendant was governor of Kwara
state between 2003 and 2011, the commission
received several petitions from various groups.
One of the petitioners was Kwara Freedom
Network. They brought several petitions all
bordering on abuse of office by the defendant,
misappropriation of public fund and money
laundering,” he said.
“Sometime in 2014, the then executive chairman
of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde received
intelligence reports of suspicious transactions
involving the defendant. He set up a team of
investigators. Our task was to investigate the
intelligence reports.
“The investigation report was reviewed by my
team. In the course of our investigation, we
discovered that there were several companies
which were linked to the defendant. Some of
them include Carlisle Properties Investment Ltd,
Skyview Properties Ltd, LimKvars Ltd, and TIly-lie
Ltd. Some of the companies maintain accounts at
Gauranty Trust Bank(GTB), Zenith Bank, Access
Bank, and other banks.
“From the investigation, it was discovered that
the defendant maintained three accounts at GTB.
The first account is a naira currency account, the
second is a US dollar account and the third is a
pound sterling account.
“The naira account was analysed, and it was
discovered that between 2005 and 2013, the
account had an in-flow of about N4bn. The major
source of inflow into the accounts was loans
taken from GTB within the period. The loans were
about N2.5bn, and the other source of inflows
into the account was massive lodgments by
individuals. Other in flows into the account were
from the companies.
“It was discovered that money was used for
purchase of property. The dollar account was
also analysed. The major source of inflow into
the dollar account was Tily-lie Properties Ltd,
which was about $2m. Other source was from
bureau de change companies. And the rest was
cash lodgments by individuals.
“The cash in the dollar account between 2009
and 2013 was $6m. We discovered that up to
$3.4m was wired to American Express Services
Europe Limited, which was used to fund the
defendant’s American Express Service New York
card account number 374588216836009. The
defendant wired over 1.5m pound sterling to
Fortis Bank for the purchase of a property in the
UK.
“After that, because of the suspicious inflows into
the account, the bank (GTB) officials were invited.
The reason for the invitation of the officials was
that some of the individuals who were making
the cash lodgment into the account were bank
officials.
“One Oluwa Tujimu reported to the commission.
From our of interactions with him, we discovered
that some of the lodgments were made through
a superior at the bank, Bayo Daudu, who was the
relationship manager of the account. In our
interaction with Daudu, it was discovered the
cash sums were handed over to him by the
defendant for lodgment in the account.
According to Daudu, he goes to Kwara state
government house to collect the money from the
defendant for lodgment into the account at the
GRA Ilorin branch of GTB.
“We discovered one name, Abdul Adama who
made transaction 50 times into the account in a
single day. The sum was broken down to
N600,000 and N900,000, and was lodged in the
same day.
“Subsequently, after that one Ubi made a
lodgment on the same day about 20 times in the
same range of N600,000 and N900,000, we
looked for Adama and invited him. He reported
that the cash sums were handed over to him by
the defendant and stated further that the cash
sums that were lodged in by Ubi into the same
account were from the defendant.
“Adama and Ubi were personal assistants to the
defendant while he was governor. Further
investigations revealed that other individuals
who made lodgments into the account were
fictitious. GTB said they had done the needful by
reporting the suspicious transactions to FIU”
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against Senate President Bukola Saraki when
Michael Wetkas, a detective at the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday
testified on how the Senate President allegedly
used fictitious names to launder billions of naira.
Testifying against the senate president at the
Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), the EFCC
detective said, among many other revelations,
that Abdul Adama, one of Saraki’s personal
assistants, made transaction 50 times into the
former governor’s account in a single day, broken
down to N600,000 and N900,000 on each
occasion.
“When the defendant was governor of Kwara
state between 2003 and 2011, the commission
received several petitions from various groups.
One of the petitioners was Kwara Freedom
Network. They brought several petitions all
bordering on abuse of office by the defendant,
misappropriation of public fund and money
laundering,” he said.
“Sometime in 2014, the then executive chairman
of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde received
intelligence reports of suspicious transactions
involving the defendant. He set up a team of
investigators. Our task was to investigate the
intelligence reports.
“The investigation report was reviewed by my
team. In the course of our investigation, we
discovered that there were several companies
which were linked to the defendant. Some of
them include Carlisle Properties Investment Ltd,
Skyview Properties Ltd, LimKvars Ltd, and TIly-lie
Ltd. Some of the companies maintain accounts at
Gauranty Trust Bank(GTB), Zenith Bank, Access
Bank, and other banks.
“From the investigation, it was discovered that
the defendant maintained three accounts at GTB.
The first account is a naira currency account, the
second is a US dollar account and the third is a
pound sterling account.
“The naira account was analysed, and it was
discovered that between 2005 and 2013, the
account had an in-flow of about N4bn. The major
source of inflow into the accounts was loans
taken from GTB within the period. The loans were
about N2.5bn, and the other source of inflows
into the account was massive lodgments by
individuals. Other in flows into the account were
from the companies.
“It was discovered that money was used for
purchase of property. The dollar account was
also analysed. The major source of inflow into
the dollar account was Tily-lie Properties Ltd,
which was about $2m. Other source was from
bureau de change companies. And the rest was
cash lodgments by individuals.
“The cash in the dollar account between 2009
and 2013 was $6m. We discovered that up to
$3.4m was wired to American Express Services
Europe Limited, which was used to fund the
defendant’s American Express Service New York
card account number 374588216836009. The
defendant wired over 1.5m pound sterling to
Fortis Bank for the purchase of a property in the
UK.
“After that, because of the suspicious inflows into
the account, the bank (GTB) officials were invited.
The reason for the invitation of the officials was
that some of the individuals who were making
the cash lodgment into the account were bank
officials.
“One Oluwa Tujimu reported to the commission.
From our of interactions with him, we discovered
that some of the lodgments were made through
a superior at the bank, Bayo Daudu, who was the
relationship manager of the account. In our
interaction with Daudu, it was discovered the
cash sums were handed over to him by the
defendant for lodgment in the account.
According to Daudu, he goes to Kwara state
government house to collect the money from the
defendant for lodgment into the account at the
GRA Ilorin branch of GTB.
“We discovered one name, Abdul Adama who
made transaction 50 times into the account in a
single day. The sum was broken down to
N600,000 and N900,000, and was lodged in the
same day.
“Subsequently, after that one Ubi made a
lodgment on the same day about 20 times in the
same range of N600,000 and N900,000, we
looked for Adama and invited him. He reported
that the cash sums were handed over to him by
the defendant and stated further that the cash
sums that were lodged in by Ubi into the same
account were from the defendant.
“Adama and Ubi were personal assistants to the
defendant while he was governor. Further
investigations revealed that other individuals
who made lodgments into the account were
fictitious. GTB said they had done the needful by
reporting the suspicious transactions to FIU”
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