$620,000 bribe-for-clearance: House grills Farouk Lawan •Otedola meets panel July 3

Lawan Farouk

House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges yesterday grilled Hon. Farouk Lawan over the $620,000 bribe he allegedly collected from the Chairman of Zenon Petoleum and Gas, Mr. Femi Otedola. Lawan, former Chairman of the ad-hoc committee that probed the petroleum subsidy payments, was alleged to have collected the bribe to delete Zenon from the probe report.  

He admitted collecting the bribe but claimed that he wanted to use it as an exhibit against Otedola. On Wednesday, he told the Police Special Task Force (STF), which is investigating the bribery allegation to give him more time to produce the balance of the bribe money. The police had earlier collected $10,000 from him during a search on his house. At the grilling yesterday by the Ethics Committee, which lasted for about four hours and which was held under closed-door, Lawan claimed  the bribery allegation was more political than what the public was being fed.  

A member of the probe panel, who did not want his name mentioned, said Lawan did not accept, collecting any bribe.  Addressing newsmen after the grilling, Chairman of the committee, Gambo Musa, said the quizzing of Lawan was to get details of the roles he played in the bribery saga. Asked to give details of the interrogation, he said vital questions were posed to the lawmaker and “desired answers were got”. 

He stressed: “We touched every area, regarding the allegation and I will say that we got satisfactory answer to every question.” On why the interrogation was held under closed-door, Musa said it was to avoid the investigation, jeopardizing the police probe. “You know the police are investigating this matter; we don’t want this probe to affect police investigation,” he explained. 

Besides, he said the aim was to prevent witnesses that will be summoned to testify before the panel from knowing what the other person said. “We don’t want witnesses to know what the other person said, so that they do not toe similar line”, he said. The chairman disclosed that Otedola would appear before the committee on July 3. He said: “We expect Otedola to appear before the committee next week. We are also expecting many others, who are involved in the matter.” 

A member of the panel, who also pleaded not to be named said Lawan gave a detailed account of his relationship with Otedola. He stressed that from the evidence the lawmaker gave, it would be difficult for Otedola to “win this bribery allegation. I was surprised when Lawan brought some facts to support his claims.” He added: “So far, from what I saw, we don’t need to just gun down Lawan. We got to know that lengthy discussions predated the $620,000. It is important that the public knows this at the appropriate time.” 

Lawan,  who came to the venue of the investigation  at 1.06pm, was besieged by newsmen. He gazed vaguely into the air and in apparent expression of surprise and discomfort at the crowd,   yelled: “Oh! This is a full house.” When he took his seat directly opposite Musa, other lawmakers, who sat near him, quickly relocated to other vacant seats. 

Lawan had last week claimed that his travail was ordained by God. He predicted that he would be vindicated at the end of the ongoing police investigation.

Source: Sun News Paper