Following court order to sentence the former lawmaker to 7 years imprisonment, DAILY GIST has obtained a video clip showing the moment Farouk Lawan collected $500,000 out of the $3million he asked as bribe from billionaire oil magnate, Femi Otedola.
DAILY GIST reports that the former lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan, on Tuesday was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for demanding a bribe of $3million and receiving $500,000.
Angela Otaluka, the trial judge, handed down the verdict in a hours-long verdict on Tuesday.
She found the former legislator guilty of all the three counts of bribery.
The judge also dismissed Mr Lawan’s claim that he received the $500,000 to obtain proof of moves by Mr Otedola to induce him and members of his committee.
After a trial that lasted for seven years, Farouk Lawan, was on Tuesday convicted for bribery and jailed.
Lawan, who was prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, was found guilty of asking for $3 million bribe, and receiving $500,000 out of the money.
Lawan, as the chairman of the House Committee that investigated the fuel subsidy scam, had approached billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, to demand the bribe.
He had promised to remove the Zenon Oil and Gas Ltd, which was founded by Otedeola, from the list of companies indicted by lawmakers in the subsidy scam, once paid the bribe.
Although Otedola maintained that his company was never involved in oil subsidy scam, he agreed to give Lawan the bribe just as part of a grand plan to catch the lawmaker red-handed and indict him.
Unknown to Lawan, Otedola had petitioned the Department of State Services, which asked him to just play along with the lawmaker.
To trap Lawan with concrete evidence, the DSS gave Otedola marked $500,000 cash to offer to him.
Lawan then visited Otedola at his residence on April 23 and 24 to collect the said money in two tranches.
Otedola also promised to send the balance of $2.5 million to the then lawmaker later.
Shortly after collecting the bribe, Lawan moved a motion during the House’s plenary seeking to remove Otedola’s Zenon Oil and Gas from the list.
Otedola later testified in court how he gave Lawan $500,000 on the instruction of the DSS.
Their meeting during which Lawan received the $500,000 part payment was secretly recorded by Otedola.
Below is the video clip showing the moment Farouk Lawan receive the bribe from Femi Otedola;
