The Nation newspaper is reporting that Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, is now ready to mount a rigorous defence of himself at the Code of Conduct Tribunal where he is being prosecuted on allegations of false assets declaration.
Having failed several times in his attempt to have the case dismissed by the courts, Saraki seems to have come to the realisation that the trial will go on.
In the light of that, he has reportedly flown in a group of experts from the United States, Israel and one of the Scandinavian countries to provide ‘specialized services’ to his team of lawyers led by Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN.
?The experts include investigators, as well as forensic and handwriting specialists whose role will be to help get more information on the witnesses and documents that have already been filed before the Tribunal by the prosecution.
According to the report:
The experts, are believed to have arrived on Monday and immediately had a preliminary meeting with the Senate President’s team on Monday in Lagos. They are also to move to Abuja any moment from now.
“The investigators will ferret out and scrutinize thoroughly all available information on the eight prosecution witnesses, including their school records, service records from their past and present places of employment and personal information that may help the defence team in the course of the trial. Most of those so-called witnesses will not be credible when information concerning their life is presented publicly before the Tribunal.
“It is also expected that with the fear that the prosecution may present forged documents, our team needs to be vigilant and pro-active considering the manner in which the proceedings before the tribunal is being conducted. Our people believe that with the way properties that have nothing to do with Saraki are being put on the charge sheet, there are tendencies that documents to sustain their claims may have been forged. All these the experts will screen and help the lawyers with information that may help them,” the source said.
The listed witnesses who are mostly from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are Michael Wetcas, Nura Ali Bako, Mustapha Abubakar Musa, Nwachukwu Amasu, Samuel Madojemin, Adamu Garba and Bayo Dauda (a member of staff of Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB).
