Special Assistant to the President on Prosecutions, Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla, said on Saturday that the Federal Government had finalised its decision to appeal last Wednesday’s ruling of Code of Conduct Tribunal discharging and acquitting Senate President, Bukola Saraki, of charges of false asset declaration.
Obono-Obla,
who vowed that no one would be allowed to get away with any act of
corruption, said in a telephone interview with our correspondent that
the government would file a notice of appeal against Saraki’s acquittal by Wednesday.
The
presidential aide, who works in the office of the Attorney-General of
the Federation, argued that the two-man panel of the CCT led by Danladi
Umar, misapplied the law by adopting the wrong standard of proof in
exonerating Saraki.
He said, “Definitely
we are going to appeal against the ruling in Saraki’s case. One of our
grounds of appeal is that the tribunal misapplied the law. For instance,
the standard of proof that the tribunal used is not applicable to
charges of false declaration of asset.
“It
(charge of false asset declaration) is a strict liability offence, so
you cannot apply the standard of proof that is applied in the regular
criminal proceedings.
“Surely, we will file the appeal next (this) week Wednesday.”
Code
of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja on Wednesday discharged and acquitted
Saraki of all the 18 charges of false asset declaration and other
related offences preferred against him.
The
two-man panel of the CCT led by its Chairman, Umar, unanimously upheld
the no-case submission which Saraki filed after the prosecution closed
its case with the fourth and the last prosecution witness testifying on
May 4, 2017.
There were 48 documentary exhibits said to have been tendered in the course of the trial.
Punch
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