Business magnate, Chief Femi Otedola told an Abuja High Court on Monday that the Department of State Service (DSS), provided him with the $500,000 that he offered to former Rep Farouk Lawan as bribe to remove his oil company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, from the list of companies indicted by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy in 2012.
Appearing before Justice Angela Otaluka of the FCT High Court, Apo as a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Lawan and Boniface Emenalo, who was Secretary to the ad hoc committee on fuel subsidy, Chief Otedola testified that DSS gave him the money as part of a sting operation after Lawan approached him for a bribe. He revealed that the $500,000 was part of the $3 million bribe demanded by Lawan to exonerate his company from the fuel subsidy scam in 2012.
Otedola told the court that he petitioned the DSS immediately Lawan demanded for the bribe, which was eventually given to him under the supervision of the DSS. “Lawan said he was going to exonerate my company after giving him the money, security cameras were mounted in my living room to capture the exchange of money between me and the defendant. “The video is with the DSS, the money was given to him in two tranches $250,000 each,” he said.
When reminded by defence counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome, that the best time “to catch a thief is when the operation is ongoing,” Otedola said he did not know why DSS failed to arrest Lawan at that moment.
Lawan is being prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) for allegedly collecting $500,000 out of the $3 million bribe. Following the case of alleged bribery against Lawan by the ICPC, Lawan and one Boniface Emenalo are standing trial before Justice Otaluka on a seven-count criminal charge bordering on obtaining $620,000 from Otedola in order to doctor the committee’s report in favor of Zenon Oil and Gas Ltd.
In prior testimony, David Igbodo, who was the Commissioner of Police, Legal Services and Investigating Police Officer (IPO) in the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Special Investigation Unit told the court that Lawan was caught on video collecting the money at the house of Femi Otedola on April 24, 2012; and after Lawan had collected the $500,000 he proceeded to the House of Representatives and removed the name of Zenon Oil that was earlier been indicted in a report by the ad hoc committee.
The witness also told the court that Lawan admitted collecting the money and said he gave it to another Honorable member named Adams Jagaba, chairman House of Representatives Committee on Narcotics and Financial Crimes. Jagaba however, denied ever receiving the $500,000 from Lawan and equally denied that any letter of acknowledgement was written by him to that effect.
Igbodo also told the court that, after collecting the money which was caught on video, Lawan did not report the collection to any security agency either before or after collecting the money. According to Igbodo, a search was conducted on the house of Jagaba but no money was found. At this point, a copy of the search warrant was presented before the court.
Igbodo said five days after Lawan was caught on video collecting the $500,000 bribe in the early morning of April 24, 2012, Lawan he went to the chairman of EFCC and reported that some oil marketers were offering him a “planeload of dollars” to bribe him and get them off the hook. Igbodo, however, said Lawan failed to inform the EFCC that he had already collected $500,000 from Otedola. David also told the court that his findings revealed that the first prosecution witness, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, who was Secretary to the ad hoc committee on fuel subsidy, had also visited the house of Mr. Otedola on April 24, 2012 at about 9:10 am and was caught on video collecting $100,000.
Justice Angela Otaluka adjourned the matter till March 8 for continuation of cross examination of the prosecution witness.
Chief Femi Otedola
