Following the receipt of a petition on allegations of fraud, bribery and inflation of contracts against the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Mr Danladi Umar, the Senate has commenced an investigation into the matter.

The petition is coming at a time when the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, is standing trial before Umar’s CCT over a 13-count charge of false declaration of assets in the form he filled as Kwara State governor at the Code of Conduct Bureau in 2003.

The petition was laid by a member of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Obinna Ogba, yesterday on behalf of Ajaso I. Ajaso, who brought the petition on behalf of a group, Anti-Corruption Network.

Ogba explained that the petitioners had not sought judicial remedy against Umar and prayed the Senate to probe the allegations contained in the document.

Saraki consequently referred the petition to the House Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions for thorough investigation, with report to be laid in two weeks.

It could be recalled that a non-governmental association, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria last Tuesday submitted a petition to the two chambers of the National Assembly demanding an immediate probe of an alleged N10m bribery scandal involving Justice Umar.

Chairman of the Senate Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions Committee, Sen Sam Anyanwu, said the committee has already begun legislative action on the petition.