Alleged $3m Bribe: Court Finds Lawan Guilty of Accepting $500,000

* Frees him from two other charges, reduces his sentencing to five years

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, yesterday found former lawmaker, Farouk Lawan guilty of accepting the sum of $500,000 as bribe from businessman and oil magnate, Mr. Femi Otedola.

The three-member panel that heard his appeal challenging his conviction bordering on bribery allegations and subsequent sentencing to seven years’ jail term, however disagreed with the trial court on two of the three count charge.

Justice Angela Otaluka, of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, had found the former lawmaker guilty on three of the seven count charge and subsequently sentenced him to seven years in a correctional center.

But Lawan who was the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee that investigated alleged fraud that characterised the subsidy on imported petroleum products, submitted that the trial court erred in finding him guilty and sending him to jail. He therefore prayed the appellate court to reverse his conviction and subsequent sentencing.

Delivering judgment yesterday, the panel led by President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, discharged and acquitted the former lawmaker on two out of the three counts on which he was convicted.

After freeing him from two charges, the court went further to reduce his jail term from seven years to five.
According to Dongban-Mensem, the prosecution failed to prove that Lawan demanded and agreed to accept $3 million from Otedola to exonerate his company from the list of firms indicted for petrol subsidy fraud in 2012.

Lawan was accused and tried for allegedly demanding the sum of $3 million from Femi Otedola to remove his company (Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited) from the list of oil companies allegedly involved in the petrol subsidy fraud in 2012.
He was arraigned on a seven count criminal charge bordering on bribery by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and was alleged to have collected a $500,000 bribe from Otedola.