Nigerian lawmaker in $3m bribe scam
2013-02-01 18:10
Abuja - A lawmaker who led a corruption probe into Nigeria's
fuel subsidy last year was charged on Friday with accepting a $3m bribe
from a billionaire oil tycoon to remove his company from the list of
fraudsters.
Nigerian legislator Farouk Lawan blew the lid on a $6.8bn scam
in a state fuel subsidy, exposing a web of fraudulent transactions that enabled
corrupt officials and fuel marketers to grow rich, often without delivering a
drop of fuel.
He pleaded not guilty in court on Friday to four counts of
bribery brought against him by the federal government and his supporters say he
is being targeted by those implicated in his investigation.
Africa's largest crude exporter has to import 80 percent of
its fuel needs because its refineries are in disrepair. The government pays a
subsidy on the fuel, which breeds corruption and is the single biggest drain of
the federal budget.
Lawan's arrest risks discrediting his findings, although two
subsequent independent probes have come to similar conclusions.
He is accused of taking $500 000 - part of an agreed $3m bribe
- from Femi Otedola, one of Nigeria's richest men, to keep his oil firm Zenon
Petroleum out of his report.
"You Farouk Lawan ... in the course of your official duty
corruptly asked for the sum of $3m for yourself from Femi Otedola ... to
afterwards show favour to Femi Otedola," charges read in the Abuja High
Court said.
The judge ordered that Lawan be remanded in police custody
until a bail hearing on 8 February.
Conspiracy
Another member of Lawan's parliamentary fuel subsidy
committee, Emenalo Boniface, is charged on three counts for also demanding the
bribe from Otedola, who will not face prosecution because he told the
authorities about the deal.
Lawan's supporters say this is evidence he was a set up by
President Goodluck Jonathan's administration, in collusion with Otedola,
because they were embarrassed by his findings.
Lawan's lawyer said last year that the case was a conspiracy
brought by fraudulent oil marketers and powerful government officials who
wanted his report discredited. He said Lawan accepted the bribe only to expose
Otedola, saying he disclosed the payment to parliament and left the cash there.
If Lawan is found guilty it could end any attempt to seek justice
in the subsidy scandal, an outcome likely to please Nigeria's powerful oil
marketers and some corrupt government officials, but enrage the public.
The report fingered several fuel companies, including a
local unit of ExxonMobil, as being involved and called for the board of the
state oil firm, including its head Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, to
resign.
Lawan's report was scathing about some of Nigeria's most
powerful people - few would dare take on the oil minister - and was an
embarrassment to Jonathan, whose office pledged to prosecute those implicated
but urged patience.
