Supreme Court clears Senate President of corruption charges

The Supreme Court has cleared Senate President, Bukola Saraki, of all charges filed against him in his false assets declaration trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

According to a report by The Punch, a five-man panel, led by Justice Dattijo Muhammad, unanimously dismissed the three-count charge against the senate president on Friday, July 6, 2018.

The Senate President had earlier been cleared of all charges in June 2017 by the Justice Danladi Umar-led tribunal citing the prosecution's failure to prove the allegations, but a December 2017 ruling by the Court of Appeal in Abuja had ordered him back to the tribunal to answer for three of the original 18 charges.

To express his dissatisfaction at the order to return to the tribunal, Saraki filed a notice of appeal at the Supreme Court.

During the ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court panel upheld Saraki's appeal and declared the evidence led by the prosecution as hearsay.

The judgement, read by Justice Centus Nweze, agreed with the CCT's final ruling that the prosecution's evidence was not strong enough to build a case against Saraki.

Justice Nweze said the prosecution team was duty-bound to produce a witness with a direct link to the evidence to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, a failure that rendered its case defective.

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The ruling faulted the Court of Appeal's decision, calling it the "equivalent of a forensic somersault".