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| Hon. Farouk Lawan |
CHAIRMAN of the House of
Representatives Committee on the probe of fuel subsidy mismanagement,
Mr. Farouk Lawan, said on Sunday that the video purportedly showing him
receiving a bribe from an oil marketer was doctored.
The Lawan committee, which discovered
that subsidy thieves had stolen N1.7trn from government coffers as a
direct consequence of malpractices in the oil sector, had been embroiled
in bribery scandal since last week.
A video recording of the bribe deal
between the oil marketer and the lawmaker is believed to be in the
possession of the State Security Service.
However, Lawan said that the allegation
that he collected $600,000 from the oil marketer to influence the
report of the House probe panel was a ploy to divert attention from the
recommendations of the committee.
The Rep at a press briefing in Abuja on
Sunday said, “I 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 that this is evident from the thorough
and in-depth manner the investigation was carried out.
“The present mudslinging is not
unexpected in view of the calibre of people whose actions and inactions
were found wanting in the report.
“I am aware that in their desperation to
discredit the report and divert attention of the public from the real
issues of large scale fraud in high places established in the 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.”
The Sunday briefing was Lawan’s first reaction to the alleged scam.
He recalled that he had cried out during
the probe that there were pressures on the committee and that he
alerted the public that a marketer “promised to fly in a jet loaded with
dollars, which he intended to share among the House leadership and
members of the ad hoc committee.”
“I did not go to Nnamdi Azikwe Airport
or any other place to collect money from anybody. The allegation is
diversionary,” he added.
But a source at the House on Sunday also
told one of our correspondents that Lawan had confessed to his
colleagues in the chamber that he indeed collected the said amount from a
businessman but that he intended to tender same as a bribery evidence.
The source said the other lawmakers,
however, did not buy Lawan’s explanation and declared that “since he
collected the money without informing them until the lid was blown open
on the deal, he would need to carry his cross.”
The source, a lawmaker also, said the
businessman who is also a fuel marketer, had reportedly invited the
lawmaker to his Lagos residence, “where the deal was struck.”
The businessman’s firms was indicted by the committee but he allegedly offered a $3m bribe to safeguard his business interests.
It was said that the businessman
recorded the meeting between him and the lawmaker and later refused to
pay the balance of the deal after paying the initial $600,000
instalment.
Another source in the House added that
after the lid was blown off the deal, the leadership of the House
summoned the lawmaker for interrogation, where he owned up to receiving
the money.
The committee chairman was said to have
declared only $300, 000 initially, unknown to the leadership that the
actual part payment was $600, 000.
“It was after the evidence and facts of
the issue were made bare to the leadership that he was summoned again
and he admitted that indeed the money was $600, 000”, the second source
confided.
Chairman of an influential committee of
the House confided in our correspondent that most members had rated the
embattled lawmaker as “a smart man”, but were surprised that he allowed
himself to be ridiculed in this manner.
He said, “The sad aspect was how he
tried to trick even the leadership by declaring only half of the money
at first. When the truth came out, he now wanted the House to assist him
by requesting to present the money on the floor as evidence of bribery.
“But, the Speaker (Aminu Tambuwal) said
‘no’, having been aware of the facts that he (Lawan) went to the house
of the businessman in Lagos to negotiate the bribe.
“How can you be probing somebody and
you went to his house in Lagos to negotiate with him. We thought he was
smarter than this.”
A principal officer of the House disclosed on Sunday that there was no way the entire House would allow itself to
be dragged down with the lawmaker if he failed to prove his innocence.
The officer said, “The House did not send any individual to go and engage himself in such illegality.
“Yes, it is true that we constituted an
ad-hoc committee to investigate the fuel subsidy scam, but we did not
say ‘go and commit illegality.’
“So, if he decided to use it as an
opportunity to enrich himself, let him face the consequences, not the
House. This House is not about any single individual or sacred cow.”
The SSS could not confirm on Sunday whether it was true that a video evidence was with it.
The SSS Deputy Director, Press
Relations, Marylyn Ogar, did not pick calls to her mobile phone nor
reply text message on the subject.
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission said it had no record that the bibery scandal in the House
was being investigated by it.
Spokesman for the anti-graft agency, Mr.
Wilson Uwujaren, said, “I am not aware that the matter is being
investigated by the EFCC.”
Source: The Punch
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