Hon. Farouk Lawan has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the FCT High Court.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Apo, Abuja, has sentenced Farouk Lawan to seven years imprisonment over the $3 million bribery charges preferred against him by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Lawan was the Former Chairman of the Federal House Of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee, probing the multi-billion naira fuel subsidy fraud in 2012.
He was accused of requesting $3 million from Femi Otedola to remove Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited (Otedola’s company) from the list of oil companies allegedly involved in the fuel subsidy fraud in 2012.
The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) arraigned Lawan on seven counts of bribery and alleged he collected a $500,000 bribe from Otedola.
The charge was later amended to three counts.
Otedola, while giving evidence as the fifth prosecution witness, said the defendant with a threat to indict his company, demanded $3 million from him.
He said he proceeded to report the case to the DSS and was given $500,000 in marked notes, adding that the DSS also planted a camera in his house.
Lawan on count one argued that the prosecution had failed to produce the call log between him and Otedola in which he demanded the bribe. He also submitted that he accepted the money from Otedola to prove that the oil mogul offered to bribe the committee to have Zenon removed from the list of indicted companies.
The presiding Judge, Angela Otaluka, while delivering judgment in the case on Tuesday, held that “it is the duty of the defendant to produce materials upon which he places his defence”.
Otaluka went further to state that the defendant failed to call one honourable Ribadu or any member of the house committee to support his claim of accepting the money to implicate Otedola, adding that they were “vital witness” needed to prove his case.
Otaluka held, “I am convinced that the defendant corruptly asked and demanded $3million of which he received $500,000. It is my finding that count one of the charge was not based on suspicion but on credible evidence.”
On count two, the court held that if Lawan did not truly have a “corrupt intention”, he should have reported the issue to a law enforcement agency or any member of the house committee when he was offered the money by Otedola.
The Judge held, “It is my finding that there was an intension to corruptly accept the money for the removal of Zenon petroleum from the list of indicted companies.”
Otaluka held that the prosecution “has beyond reasonable doubt, established the elements of the charge in count two”.
The Judge added that the evidence tendered by the defence “were not accorded any credibility and not worthy of belief” for being inconsistent.
She held, “I am totally convinced that the defendant did not collect the money to serve as a lesson to other companies.
“I, therefore, find the defendant guilty of counts one, two, and three.”
The Judge sentenced Lawan to seven years imprisonment on count one, seven years on count two, and five years on count three.
The sentence will, however, run concurrently, meaning the convict will only serve a seven-year jail term.
She also ordered the convict to restitute by paying back the $500,000 he collected from Otedola.
