$600,000 Subsidy Scam: Farouk Lawan Makes U-turn

Farouk Lawan, the chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Monitoring of the Subsidy Regime is currently enmeshed in $600,000 bribe allegedly collected from Mr Femi Otedola in order to clear his companies, Forte oil and Zenon oil in the subsidy report.

Unknowing to Hon. Farouk, the $600,000 handed to him was a marked money from the State Security Service, (SSS).

We gathered that $500,000 was  handed to the lawmaker on April 24 at about 4.00 am in Otedola’s Aso drive’s home in Abuja, six days after the committee submitted its report on April 18.

The secretary of Lawan’s committee, Mr Emenalo returned the next day to pick up $120,000.

Mr Otedola however recorded the transactions using pen camera and gave the video clip to the SSS.

Mr Farouk kept mute on the glossy cash for exoneration deal even in the press release he issued on Sunday. Our source said he did not even brief the house leadership on the matter at

the time he collected the cash which was supposed to be an installment of the $3 million he demanded.

Recall that Otedola went public in an interview he granted to a national newspaper in Nigeria disclosing how Lawan approached him and insisted that he (Otedola)  needed to play ball to exonerate his companies.

In his swift reaction to Mr Otedola’s allegation, Farouk Lawan not only lied, he blatantly denied ever demanded or received money from any “oil baron.”

He said  in the statement thus "I wish to categorically deny that I or any member of the committee demanded and received any bribe from anybody in connection with the fuel subsidy probe and I believe. This is evident from the thorough and indepth manner the investigation was carried out and the all

encompassing recommendations produced there from as approved by the whole House.

"This clarification is necessary in order to clear all the insinuations being bandied about and more importantly to enable the Government concentrate on the implementation of the report.

"I am aware that in their desperation to discredit the report and divert the attention of the public from the real issues of large scale fraud in high places established in our report, a video footage displaying a caricature of my person allegedly having a dealing with a marketer reminiscent of the military era when

dignitaries were invited to the villa to watch a video clip of a phantom coup involving chief Olusegun Obasanjo is already in circulation.

Making a u-turn, Farouk Lawan yesterday agreed he collected the money when confronted with the video

clip. The tape has been played to the speaker and other leadership of the house. Lawan said he collected the money, which he failed to divulge in his lengthy press release to play along and that he reported it to the House Committee on Financial Crimes.

We learnt that even when the leadership of the house confronted Farouk Lawan with the $600k allegation,  he denied it until they played him the video clip of the deal.

The lawmaker is definitely not going down without putting up a big fight.  Our reporter gathered, with

desperation, the Lawmaker authored a letter on May 31st to report what transpired between him and Mr

Otedola to the House Committee on Financial Crimes and that he was ready to submit the cash to the

committee as evidence to make it seems he was actually playing along in the scandal.

Our source said "Farouk Lawan submitted his report on April 18, the bribe was offered April 24 but he waited till over a month to write a letter dated May 31st to say he was only playing along, and also why did he fail to mention the money in the press statement issued on Sunday."

A member of the house  from the South Eastern zone of the country who doesn't want his name published

due to the sensitivity of the issue expressed concern over scandalous actions of some chairmen of standing committees saying “the leadership of the house needs to take issues of bribery allegations seriously by suspending or removing erring chairmen to serve as deterrent to others.”

Similarly, an Abuja-based civil society organization, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre has called for probe into the allegation of $600,000 bribe against Farouk Lawan and his members adding that the matter should not be swept under the carpet.

Executive Director of group,  Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said  the house  should “shun sentiment and do all that needed to be done to clear its name from this odious allegation.”

“Probe into the allegation of this current scandal should not however in any way be used as excuse to let

those who looted the country in the name of subsidy to go scot-free.” He added.

June 13, 2012