BREAKING: Court Sentences Ex-Lawmaker, Farouk Lawan To 7 Years in Prison Over Multi-Million Dollar Bribe

Farouk Lawan, the former chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, was sentenced to seven years in jail by an Abuja High Court for the $3 million bribery accusations brought against him by the Nigerian government.

Lawan was involved in the investigation of the multi-billion naira gasoline subsidy scandal in 2012 as Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee.

He allegedly took a $500,000 bribe from Femi Otedola to remove Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited (Otedola’s company) from the list of oil companies allegedly implicated in the fuel subsidy scheme in 2012.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) charged Lawan with seven charges of bribery, alleging that he received a $500,000 bribe from Otedola.

Later, the accusation was changed to three counts.

As the sixth prosecution witness, Otedola stated that the defendant wanted $3 million and threatened to indict his oil firm.

The businessman claims he reported the situation to the Department of State Services (DSS) and was paid $500,000 in marked notes as a reward.

He further said that the DSS installed a camera in his home in order to catch Lawan off guard.