A High Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Tuesday sentenced a former Chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on Petroleum Subsidy, Farouk Lawan to seven years in prison for taking a $500,000 bribe.
Lawan was found guilty of corruptly asking for and obtaining bribe from billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, in order to exoneratehis company, Zelon Petroleum and Gas Limited, from the list of companies indicted by the House of Representatives in a fuel subsidy scam in 2012.
The former lawmaker was arraigned on three counts of the bribery charge; and the court sentenced him to seven years on counts one and two, while for count three, he was sentenced to five years. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The court also ordered that the defendant return the sum of $500,000 to the Federal Government.
Otedola had testified that he upon the request for a $3 million bribe from Lawan, he made a report to security agencies which gave him $500,000 cash to offer the lawmaker in a sting operation that nailed the case.
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