Dear,all,
I feel the man was set up to rubbish him, but unfortunately he may have yielded to the cancerous disease eating up Nigeria, -corruption. But we have to hear his own side of the story before we crucify him.
Nkolik
From: Mobolaji ALUKO <alukome@gmail.com>
To: NaijaPolitics e-Group <NaijaPolitics@yahoogroups.com>; OmoOdua <OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com>; naijaintellects <naijaintellects@googlegroups.com>; "nigerianid@yahoogroups.com" <nigerianID@yahoogroups.com>; ekiti ekitigroups <ekitipanupo@yahoogroups.com>; USAAfrica Dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>; Ra'ayi <Raayiriga@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 8:32 PM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - POINT-COUNTERPOINT: Fuel Subsidy Probe - Indignant Businessman Femi Otedola Confirms "Stinging" Insistent Lawmaker Farouk Lawan, Who Denies Everything about Any Bribery....
My people:
Fie, fie, fie, Farouk....it should be easy to ask whether Farouk went to Otedola's house (at night?) in the last two to three months or not....why, when, how, what for goodness sakes?
Inquiring minds want to know...but I seem to know who I tend to believe in this story....this is pretty tiring.
Bolaji Aluko
Shaking his head
THIS DAY
In an exclusive interview with THISDAY, chairman, Zenon Petroleum & Gas Ltd, Mr. Femi Otedola, who hitherto was suspected of being behind the $3 million bribery scandal, blew the lid on what transpired and how chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Hon. Farouk Lawan, and the secretary of the committee, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, had collected $620,000 from him in a sting operation masterminded by the security agencies.
The amount was part payment for the $3 million, which he alleged Lawan had demanded from him to exonerate Zenon Oil from the ad-hoc committee's report.
As the scandal unfolds, it was learnt that operatives of the State Security Services have sent a video recording of the incident to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further scrutiny and action.
Otedola, who was opening up on the issue for the first time, narrated how Lawan at the outset of the probe had approached him to get some insight into the workings of the downstream oil and gas sector.
Otedola said he obliged him and ensured that his managing directors of Forte Oil Plc and Zenon Oil appeared at the subsidy probe during its public hearing after both companies had been invited by the committee.
During the probe, he said the committee was informed in no uncertain terms that Zenon does not and has never made claims for subsidy payments from the federal government, as the company was engaged solely in the importation of diesel, a product that is not subsidised.
Zenon's managing director, Mr. Kanmi Kareem Otaru, during the probe had denied that the company had anything to do with the subsidy regime. He told the committee, "For the avoidance of doubt Zenon never participated or benefited from the subsidy scheme or Petroleum Support Fund (PSF)."
According to him, going by the Act which established the PSF scheme, "Zenon couldn't participate in it because we don't have a network of PMS retail outlets which was one of the key criteria beneficiaries must meet and as such we are not qualified to participate to draw from subsidy payments on PMS. So we never collected as records will show."
Irrespective of the clarification made at the hearing, Otedola said Lawan still approached him a few days before the report was to be tabled on April 18, 2012 before the House of Representatives, demanding money so that Zenon's name will be kept out of the report.
"When this happened, I was very angry and reminded him that Zenon has never participated in the subsidy scheme and that it would be criminal to rope in the company for something it did not do.
"But Lawan responded, stating that several other marketers were playing ball and had offered the members of the committee large sums of money to ensure that their companies' names were not published in the report," he added.
Otedola, said initially he balked at Lawan's attempt to extort money from him and told the legislator that he would not pay up, as Zenon had not committed any crime.
"Then a day before the report was to be submitted, Lawan called again, informing me that Zenon's name had been included in the report.
"I, of course, was very angry and asked him to desist from his course of action, but Lawan insisted that I must pay up as other oil marketers had done before me."
Otedola said he could not believe his eyes the next day when the report came out and Zenon's name had been listed under the category of companies that had bought foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) but had not imported petrol.
The amount ascribed to Zenon in the report was $232,975,385.13. The report had recommended that Zenon and 14 other marketers that had bought the foreign exchange be referred to the anti-corruption agencies to determine what they used the monies for.
Otedola said at this point he again called Lawan demanding that Zenon's name be removed from the list, as there was no way his company could have bought that volume of foreign exchange without importing products.
"I reminded him that the amount ascribed to Zenon was wrong as what the company bought was over $400 million for importation of products through the banks – Zenith, UBA and GTB – and that under Sanusi (CBN governor) there was no way anyone could have bought that quantity of foreign exchange and not imported the products having filled the Form M.
"Sanusi will simply clamp down on anyone who tries to pull that kind of stunt," he said.
In spite of this, Otedola said Lawan still demanded that the members of the committee be given money in exchange for removing Zenon's name from the report before it is considered in plenary by the entire House.
Otedola said he then asked how much would be required to make the committee happy, to which Lawan responded $3 million.
"I screamed at him, demanding to know why he was doing this to me. All he said was other marketers were paying up to keep their names out of the report so I should do likewise," he said.
Otedola revealed that it was this point he decided to involve the security agencies to catch Lawan and his committee with their hands in the till.
According to him, "As a law-abiding citizen, I decided to involve the security agencies and they advised me to play along, which prompted me to offer to pay part of the money with the promise that I would pay the balance when my company's name had been removed from the report."
The security agencies, he disclosed, gave him serialised dollar bills for the sting job and there are call logs, video and audio recordings in the possession of the agencies to confirm all that had transpired between himself and Lawan.
He said on April 21, the Saturday before the plenary, Lawan came in person to his residence and collected $250,000 in cash, as the first instalment, "then the next Monday night he came and collected another $250,000.
"On Tuesday, at 9am, just before the House commenced seating, Boniface came and collected another $120,000."
Otedola confirmed that during the sting, Lawan and Boniface collected a total of $620,000 in three instalments as part of the $3 million demanded from him.
He added that with the $620,000 that had been extorted by Lawan and the committee, during the plenary, Zenon's name was removed from the list of companies that had bought foreign exchange but did not import products.
Otedola continued: "He (Lawan) now asked for the balance of $2.5 million, but when I told him that I had no money now that the money was in Lagos, he suggested that I should charter a plane to fly the money from Lagos to Abuja."
Otedola stressed that his decision to get the law enforcement and security agencies involved stemmed from the fact that he had not broken any law, maintaining that as a law-abiding citizen, he was saddened by the fact that he was being blackmailed by of all people, members of the legislature.
"If you have information that an armed robber is come to raid your home, won't you notify the police? So, that was the purpose of the sting operation.
"Besides, my integrity is paramount to me. I started selling petroleum products 14 years ago in drums and somebody who has never run a petrol station is trying to blackmail and extort money from me.
"If others (marketers) have paid money, maybe they are guilty. But I did not do anything wrong, so why should they extort money from me? As a law-abiding citizen, I had to involve the security agencies. Indeed, I'm very disappointed because I have worked hard to build my business."
Insisting that he had nothing to hide or fear over what had happened, Otedola maintained if he was in the wrong he would not have involved the security agencies in the first instance.
In a reference to the strong denials made by Lawan since the scandal became public, Otedola stated, "When he (Lawan) demanded the bribe, I called the agencies. That is because I had nothing to hide. When the bribe was paid, why did he not call and report it to the agencies if he had nothing to."
Meanwhile, THISDAY gathered that the videotape of the illicit transaction had been sent to the EFCC to investigate the incident.
When contacted, the EFCC, however, said it had neither received the videotape nor had it commenced investigations into the bribery scandal.
EFCC Head of the Media Unit, Mr. Wilson Uwugiaren, said the allegation had not been brought to the knowledge of the commission.
According to him, the only related matter currently being handled by the EFCC was the report of the ad-hoc committee that the commission was studying to establish the facts and track down anyone found culpable for the alleged mismanagement of the PSF.
Fuel Subsidy Probe: Otedola Confirms Bribe to Lawmakers
11 Jun 2012
Mr. Femi Otedola
•SSS sends videotape to EFCC
By Yemi Ajayi in Lagos, Ike Abonyi, Onwuka Nzeshi and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The full details of the $3 million bribery scandal involving members of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Fuel Subsidy probe were revealed yesterday, as one of the major actors in the scandal has opened up on what transpired.
In an exclusive interview with THISDAY, chairman, Zenon Petroleum & Gas Ltd, Mr. Femi Otedola, who hitherto was suspected of being behind the $3 million bribery scandal, blew the lid on what transpired and how chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Hon. Farouk Lawan, and the secretary of the committee, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, had collected $620,000 from him in a sting operation masterminded by the security agencies.
The amount was part payment for the $3 million, which he alleged Lawan had demanded from him to exonerate Zenon Oil from the ad-hoc committee's report.
As the scandal unfolds, it was learnt that operatives of the State Security Services have sent a video recording of the incident to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further scrutiny and action.
Otedola, who was opening up on the issue for the first time, narrated how Lawan at the outset of the probe had approached him to get some insight into the workings of the downstream oil and gas sector.
Otedola said he obliged him and ensured that his managing directors of Forte Oil Plc and Zenon Oil appeared at the subsidy probe during its public hearing after both companies had been invited by the committee.
During the probe, he said the committee was informed in no uncertain terms that Zenon does not and has never made claims for subsidy payments from the federal government, as the company was engaged solely in the importation of diesel, a product that is not subsidised.
Zenon's managing director, Mr. Kanmi Kareem Otaru, during the probe had denied that the company had anything to do with the subsidy regime. He told the committee, "For the avoidance of doubt Zenon never participated or benefited from the subsidy scheme or Petroleum Support Fund (PSF)."
According to him, going by the Act which established the PSF scheme, "Zenon couldn't participate in it because we don't have a network of PMS retail outlets which was one of the key criteria beneficiaries must meet and as such we are not qualified to participate to draw from subsidy payments on PMS. So we never collected as records will show."
Irrespective of the clarification made at the hearing, Otedola said Lawan still approached him a few days before the report was to be tabled on April 18, 2012 before the House of Representatives, demanding money so that Zenon's name will be kept out of the report.
"When this happened, I was very angry and reminded him that Zenon has never participated in the subsidy scheme and that it would be criminal to rope in the company for something it did not do.
"But Lawan responded, stating that several other marketers were playing ball and had offered the members of the committee large sums of money to ensure that their companies' names were not published in the report," he added.
Otedola, said initially he balked at Lawan's attempt to extort money from him and told the legislator that he would not pay up, as Zenon had not committed any crime.
"Then a day before the report was to be submitted, Lawan called again, informing me that Zenon's name had been included in the report.
"I, of course, was very angry and asked him to desist from his course of action, but Lawan insisted that I must pay up as other oil marketers had done before me."
Otedola said he could not believe his eyes the next day when the report came out and Zenon's name had been listed under the category of companies that had bought foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) but had not imported petrol.
The amount ascribed to Zenon in the report was $232,975,385.13. The report had recommended that Zenon and 14 other marketers that had bought the foreign exchange be referred to the anti-corruption agencies to determine what they used the monies for.
Otedola said at this point he again called Lawan demanding that Zenon's name be removed from the list, as there was no way his company could have bought that volume of foreign exchange without importing products.
"I reminded him that the amount ascribed to Zenon was wrong as what the company bought was over $400 million for importation of products through the banks – Zenith, UBA and GTB – and that under Sanusi (CBN governor) there was no way anyone could have bought that quantity of foreign exchange and not imported the products having filled the Form M.
"Sanusi will simply clamp down on anyone who tries to pull that kind of stunt," he said.
In spite of this, Otedola said Lawan still demanded that the members of the committee be given money in exchange for removing Zenon's name from the report before it is considered in plenary by the entire House.
Otedola said he then asked how much would be required to make the committee happy, to which Lawan responded $3 million.
"I screamed at him, demanding to know why he was doing this to me. All he said was other marketers were paying up to keep their names out of the report so I should do likewise," he said.
Otedola revealed that it was this point he decided to involve the security agencies to catch Lawan and his committee with their hands in the till.
According to him, "As a law-abiding citizen, I decided to involve the security agencies and they advised me to play along, which prompted me to offer to pay part of the money with the promise that I would pay the balance when my company's name had been removed from the report."
The security agencies, he disclosed, gave him serialised dollar bills for the sting job and there are call logs, video and audio recordings in the possession of the agencies to confirm all that had transpired between himself and Lawan.
He said on April 21, the Saturday before the plenary, Lawan came in person to his residence and collected $250,000 in cash, as the first instalment, "then the next Monday night he came and collected another $250,000.
"On Tuesday, at 9am, just before the House commenced seating, Boniface came and collected another $120,000."
Otedola confirmed that during the sting, Lawan and Boniface collected a total of $620,000 in three instalments as part of the $3 million demanded from him.
He added that with the $620,000 that had been extorted by Lawan and the committee, during the plenary, Zenon's name was removed from the list of companies that had bought foreign exchange but did not import products.
Otedola continued: "He (Lawan) now asked for the balance of $2.5 million, but when I told him that I had no money now that the money was in Lagos, he suggested that I should charter a plane to fly the money from Lagos to Abuja."
Otedola stressed that his decision to get the law enforcement and security agencies involved stemmed from the fact that he had not broken any law, maintaining that as a law-abiding citizen, he was saddened by the fact that he was being blackmailed by of all people, members of the legislature.
"If you have information that an armed robber is come to raid your home, won't you notify the police? So, that was the purpose of the sting operation.
"Besides, my integrity is paramount to me. I started selling petroleum products 14 years ago in drums and somebody who has never run a petrol station is trying to blackmail and extort money from me.
"If others (marketers) have paid money, maybe they are guilty. But I did not do anything wrong, so why should they extort money from me? As a law-abiding citizen, I had to involve the security agencies. Indeed, I'm very disappointed because I have worked hard to build my business."
Insisting that he had nothing to hide or fear over what had happened, Otedola maintained if he was in the wrong he would not have involved the security agencies in the first instance.
In a reference to the strong denials made by Lawan since the scandal became public, Otedola stated, "When he (Lawan) demanded the bribe, I called the agencies. That is because I had nothing to hide. When the bribe was paid, why did he not call and report it to the agencies if he had nothing to."
Meanwhile, THISDAY gathered that the videotape of the illicit transaction had been sent to the EFCC to investigate the incident.
When contacted, the EFCC, however, said it had neither received the videotape nor had it commenced investigations into the bribery scandal.
EFCC Head of the Media Unit, Mr. Wilson Uwugiaren, said the allegation had not been brought to the knowledge of the commission.
According to him, the only related matter currently being handled by the EFCC was the report of the ad-hoc committee that the commission was studying to establish the facts and track down anyone found culpable for the alleged mismanagement of the PSF.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PUNCH
My image in N96m bribe video doctored – Farouk Lawan
JUNE 11, 2012 BY NIYI ODEBODE AND JOHN AMEH 169 COMMENTS
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the probe of fuel subsidy mismanagement, Mr. 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 in The PUNCH.
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 to The PUNCH 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."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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