A former President of the Senate, bukola saraki has said that several courts have acquitted him of all corruption charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Saraki, speaking through his spokesman, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said it was therefore unfair to include him among the cases that were not conclusively investigated or where the result of the investigation was not brought to court.

He said this in a letter to PREMIUM TIMES in reaction to the newspaper’s report that included him among former governors whose cases of alleged corruption had been forgotten by the EFCC.

Mr. Saraki, a two-term former governor of Kwara state, and his successor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, were on the list, compiled by this newspaper, of former governors who have been questioned or detained for questioning by the EFCC on corruption charges.

The letter from her spokesperson denying her inclusion on the list is titled “Saraki did not benefit from lack of diligent prosecution of cases.”

Mr. Saraki was detained for questioning by the EFCC in July last year, long after most of the court decisions he said had exonerated him had been handed down.

But he maintained that the courts had acquitted him of all five cases, including forfeiture proceedings, brought against him by the EFCC.

He said the EFCC re-litigated the cases in a desperate attempt by the commission’s then-acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, to go after him.

Although his most recent arrest by the EFCC was by the commission’s current chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, Saraki said his investigations and the various cases brought against him were ordered by Magu in retaliation for the 8th Senate’s refusal to confirm him. as the substantive responsible. president of the anti-corruption agency.

“We would like to make it clear that if there are such cases, Dr. Saraki’s surely does not fall into this category. The EFCC pursued Dr. Saraki with every instrument at his disposal. The commission brought several cases that were determined by the courts, and Dr. Saraki won every case. For example, the story aspect about Dr. Saraki was based on a malicious and malicious investigation instituted by the former head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu just as Dr. Saraki was completing his mandate from him. as President of the Senate.

”In an unprecedented manner and also suggestive of a selective measure, the EFCC under Magu declared that it was investigating the accounts of the National Assembly in 2019. The commission in that effort forgot that the Secretary of the National Assembly, not the President of the Senate is the accountant for the federal legislature,” Saraki’s letter read in part.

‘Re-filing of cases by Magu’

He noted that EFCC under Mr. Magu re-litigated the cases against him in revenge.

He noted that the re-litigated cases “formed the crux of the 18 charges that the EFCC, together with the Code of Conduct Office, brought against Saraki in the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. ”.

He said that Saraki was victorious in all cases.

“The EFCC under Magu also filed forfeiture cases against Dr. Saraki’s properties located in Ikoyi in two different Lagos High Courts. Again, the EFCC lost in both cases.

“Therefore, after the EFCC pursued the cases against Saraki in five different courts and obtained negative rulings, it will be unfair to include Saraki’s name among the cases that were not conclusively investigated or in which the result of the investigation it was not taken to court.

“The former EFCC chairman tried his best to convict Saraki, but the court found no merit in all cases,” the letter said.

Saraki described the EFCC investigation under Magu’s leadership as a witch hunt.

“Mr. Magu, obviously still hurt by the refusal of the Senate to confirm his appointment as president of the anti-corruption agency as required by law and following the recommendation of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) initiated the investigation to settle scores.

“The DSS had found him unsuitable for the position of the anti-corruption czar. Based on the recommendation and his poor performance during the screening held during a session covered live on national television, Magu was not confirmed as president of the EFCC.

“Then he took the position of the Senate as a sin committed solely by Saraki. In response, he went to great lengths, including abusing the EFCC chairman’s powers, to wage a war of revenge, blackmail, and mischief against Saraki. He wanted to catch Saraki at all costs,” the letter said.

It added that Mr. Saraki “was not only investigated but he was also harassed, harassed, persecuted and prosecuted.”

Magu’s denial

The 8th Senate headed by Mr. Saraki rejected Magu’s nomination twice based on a State Security Services (SSS) security report.

But in response, the former EFCC chief had said the “ongoing investigation” against the former Senate president was not personal.

“No, no, it’s not personal. I’m not after anyone,” Mr. Magu had said. “Please, I don’t want you to personalize this. It’s no different from other research we’re doing.

“You invite people who have committed crimes, corrupt people. If you’re not corrupt, you’re not here.

“We do our homework very well: sometimes we carry out preliminary investigations for up to six months and these people don’t even know that we are investigating them,” Mr. Magu added.

Serial court cases

Remember, in December 2019, the EFCC secured the temporary seizure of the two houses in Plot 10 and 11 of Abdulkadir Road, GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State, due to the fact that the houses were purchased with the proceeds of illegal activities allegedly perpetrated by Mr. Saraki while he was Governor of Kwara State.

However, the former Senate President resisted attempts by the EFCC to convert the provisional forfeiture order into a permanent order. Ruling in his favor, Judge Riliwan Aikawa of the Lagos Federal High Court annulled the temporary forfeiture order.

The judge said there was an insufficient basis for the EFCC’s request for final forfeiture of the properties on the grounds that the properties were acquired with the proceeds of crime as mere suspicion.

The judge stated that evidence presented in court indicated that the property was substantially financed with money paid to Mr. Saraki as a former governor, pursuant to the Kwara State Governor and Deputy Governor Pension Payment Act, according to a report. by the Tribune newspaper

Subsequently, the judge denied the EFCC’s request for the definitive confiscation of the property and revoked the provisional confiscation order that had been granted in his favor on December 2, 2019.

However, the details of the court ruling did not legally absolve Mr. Saraki from further investigation by the commission.

PREMIUM TIMES reported in July 2021 how the EFCC under the current administration of Abdulrasheed Bawa arrested Mr. Saraki and held him in custody on corruption charges.

In what appears to be the opening of a new case by the EFCC, sources familiar with the matter informed this newspaper that Saraki was invited to answer questions about alleged corruption and laundering of public funds using a network of cronies and representation companies. .

The alleged proxies, who executed purported contracts for Kwara State under Saraki, allegedly made repayments, over many years, to the former Governor, forming a network of dirty money flow.

The funds involved were huge, reaching hundreds of millions in naira and hundreds of thousands in foreign currencies at various times, the sources said.