Written by Olawale Rasheed, Jacob Segun Olatunji and Kolawole Daniel, Abuja Monday, 02 July 2012
SUSPENDED chairman of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee that investigated the Federal Government’s fuel subsidy regime, Honourable Farouk Lawan, has challenged the police and other security agencies to produce call logs and video clips of his encounter with Mr Femi Otedola.
This is just as he insisted that he reported the attempted bribe to the police a month before Otedola addressed the press on the issue.
This is coming as the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges is set to summon Otedola to give his own side of the story, even as reports indicated that Lawan has requested for a face-to-face encounter with Otedola before the House probe committee.
In two separate petitions sent to the Inspector General of Police and made available to journalists in Abuja on Sunday, the lawmaker declared that he was the complainant in the bribery saga, as he reported the entire incident to the relevant House committee and the police authorities in addition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as far back as May 10.
The petitions, signed on behalf of the lawmaker by four Senior Advocates of Nigeria, argued that a public inspection of the call logs and video would confirm that Otedola was the bribe giver, adding that the “call logs, text messages and transcript of phone conversations as well as video footage will reveal that it was Mr Otedola who offered $3,000,000 to our client.”
The petition also affirmed that contrary to reports, Otedola, indeed, brought the first part of the bribe to the lawmaker`s hotel room, adding that the oil marketer traced him to Apo Protea Hotel, where he handed over documents to exonerate his company and afterwards handed over the money to the lawmaker.
On why he collected the bribe at all, the lawmaker noted that “the veiled threats by Mr Otedola have added to the barrage of calls some, up to 20 calls per day, especially on the night of 20th of April 2012, when there were over 30 of such calls,” adding that “on one night alone, he received about 50 missed calls from Mr Otedola.”
The second part the petition further noted was handed to him when he visited Otedola on his invitation to collect three other documents that proved his companies were not involved in the subsidy fraud, adding that both bribe payments were then reported to the relevant House committee as well as the police authorities.
On why Otedola`s company was delisted from the list of indicted companies, the petition affirmed that Zenon Oil was delisted on the strength of the documents submitted by Otedola, adding that of the two companies indicted, only one of the companies was removed from the list.
The lawmaker also denied news report that he put money under his cap as he wore no cap on the two days he met Otedola, just as he argued that no security agency was involved in the entire interaction he had with the lawmaker.
The petition then urged the police authorities to take note that the lawmaker was the complainant dating back to May 10 while Otedola who only spoke on the issue a month after is the accused.
Lawyers who signed the petition included Chief Mike Ozhekome, Rickey Tarfa, Israel Olorundare and Sam Ologunorisa.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives will on Tuesday probe the $620,000 bribe Otedola allegedly gave Lawan, as well as the State Security Service (SSS) sting operation.
A House of Representatives inside probe into the bribery scandal is trying to establish whether Otedola acted alone in the matter.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the House of Representatives Ethics and Privileges Committee has been working to get the SSS to confirm if it was involved in the "sting" operation that Otedola is hinging his case on.
A member of the House of Representatives investigative panel who did not want to be mentioned told Nigerian Tribune that Lawan showed the panel phone call logs and messages which suggested that Otedola was the initiator of the bribery.
Lawan was said to have informed the in-house panel that Otedola provided the subsidy probe committee with the controversial 2010 KPMG audit report when the probe was ongoing.
The 43-page audit report which was commissioned by the Ministry of Finance revealed widespread rot and corruption in the oil sector and subsidy management.
The inside probe querying the sting operation wondered why security operatives did not apprehend Lawan at the point of collection. Other posers the committee are said to be trying to unravel also include the issue that the whole plot could have been staged managed by Otedola to blackmail the committee and rubish the fuel subsidy report, the member of the investigative committee stated.
The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Adams Jagaba will also appear before the Ethics and Privileges Committee to defend himself over allegations that he is in possession of the money.
Lawan claimed to have attached in a purported letter to Jagaba the sum of $620,000 which Otedola paid but Jagaba had denied this.
"To put the record straight, neither my office in the National Assembly, nor that in my constituency is in receipt of the said letter purportedly written to me by Farouk. In fact, I also saw it for the first time in the newspapers as published," the lawmaker added.
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