Lawan allegedly extorted a $500,000 bribe from billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola.
Former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan, has been imprisoned for seven years after he was found guilty of bribery by a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.
Lawan served for 16 years in the lower legislative chamber of the National Assembly between 1999 and 2015, and was first charged with corruption in 2013.
Lawan had, the previous year, chaired the ad-hoc House Committee that investigated the Nigerian government's payment of fuel subsidies to some oil companies that never delivered products.
The 58-year-old was alleged to have demanded a bribe of $3 million from billionaire business, Femi Otedola, to have his Zenon Petroleum and Gas Company removed from the list of companies implicated in the scandal.
He later accepted $500,000 from the businessman, who delivered marked notes after he had informed the Department of State Services (DSS) who set up a sting operation that captured the exchange on camera.
Otedola's Zenon was later removed from the final report submitted by Lawan's Committee to the lower legislative chamber.
The accused has over the years described the allegation as a blackmail attempt to discredit the work of the committee and its report.
The prosecution presented five witnesses in court, and the former lawmaker failed to prove his innocence as he was convicted in a ruling on Tuesday.
Details later.
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