UPDATED: Former Lawmaker Farouk Lawan Gets 7 Years Jail For Receiving Bribe

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court sitting in Apo, Abuja, has sentenced a former chairman of the federal house of representatives ad-hoc committee on fuel subsidy, Farouk Lawan, to seven years having found him guilty of bribery in 2012.

The judgement was handed down on him on Tuesday in Suit No FCT/HC/CR/76/2013, between the federal government and Farouk M. Lawan.

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), while arraigning him in 2012 on a 3-count charge, had alleged that he demanded $3 million from business mogul Femi Otedola to remove his company from the list of defaulters in the fuel subsidy scam.

He was said to have collected $500,000 as bribe.

In her judgement, trial judge Angela Otaluka, found him guilty on all counts, adding that the prosecution provided sufficient evidence against him.

Otaluka held that Lawan’s failure to report the said bribe to security agents at the time meant he accepted it.

“Count One of the charges is not based on suspicion but on credible evidence. The defendant corruptly asked for $3million and received a $500,000 bribe in two tranches from Femi Otedola.

“The conduct of the defendant established the ingredients of corruption which he was charged to court, as he did not report any case of inducement to any law enforcement agency,” Otaluka said.

But Lawan’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome SAN had reportedly contended in 2019 that the failure of Department of State Services(DSS) to arrest his client immediately was proof that they intended cooking up stories against him.

The Nigerian lawyer reports that the defendant’s lawyer further said that the video evidence brought before the court by the prosecution was blurry and does not clearly reveal that the envelope passed from Otedola to Lawan contained money.

But on Tuesday, the judge was said to have dismissed the preliminary objections by Lawan’s lawyer, Ozekhome, before giving her verdict.

The court ordered that the $500,000 be returned to the Federal Government.

The committee, which Lawan led was established following a nationwide strike that trailed the removal of fuel subsidy by former President Goodluck Jonathan.