THE prosecution in the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki said yesterday that it planned to call the officer in charge of Saraki’s accounts with Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Plc as its next witness.
Saraki is being tried before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged false assets declaration.
Lead prosecution lawyer Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) spoke at the resumption of proceedings yesterday after the prosecution tendered a statement said to be made by Saraki.
The statement was said to have been made to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2013.
The statement dated August 12, 2013, was tendered by the prosecution through its fourth witness, Alvan Gurummaal, a detective of the EFCC.
He was subpoenaed to produce the statement before the tribunal as he was said to be a party to the investigation of the case. The content of the statement was not disclosed during proceedings.
Saraki has consistently claimed that he was not allowed to respond to the discrepancies notice in his assets declaration forms before the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) referred him to the CCT for prosecution.
After the witness tendered the statement, which was admitted by the tribunal, Jacobs said he could not continue because his next witness was not available.
Jacobs said the next witness, who is Saraki’s account officer at the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, informed him that he (the witness) would be absent from the day’s proceedings because he has a medical appointment to undergo surgery.
He applied for an adjournment to a later date to enable him produce the fifth prosecution witness. He was silent of the proposed witness’ name.
Tribunal’s Chairman Danladi Umar acceded to Jacobs’ request for adjournment in the absence of opposition from the defence team. He adjourned till May 4 for continuation of trial.