USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: POINT-COUNTERPOINT: Fuel Subsidy Probe - Indignant Businessman Femi Otedola Confirms "Stinging" Insistent Lawmaker Farouk Lawan, Who Denies Everything about Any Bribery....

"Jonathan is definitely a highly compromised president under whom corruption is the rule of the game." - Yinka.

I don't think any sane Nigeria will reasonably argue with above statement. 

Under GEJ, our treasury is being depleted, and continues to be siphoned at a rate never before seen in the anals of this country.

As we speak, the entire allocation for the fuel subsidy in the 2012 budget has been exhausted.

And for the first time, the Federal govt is so broke they cannot pay salaries!

Minister of finance was forced to urgently seek a 7 billion dollar loan from international donors...to do what, no on knows!

This in spite of teh fact that Nigeria earns ever more dollar from crude oil sales.

It is remarkable that under Yar'adua at the heat of the Niger Delta militancy Nigeria could only export less that 1 million bpd crude oil, but under Jonathan it has climbed to 2.6 million bpd!

And yet Yar'adua reduced fuel price from 70 to 65 Naira per litre, but GEJ has increased it to 97 Naira per litre!

Lawmakers have invited Iwealla to explain what is happening and that was the last time we heard of it.

The attitude of Jonathan and his clique appears to be LET'S SIPHON EVERYTHING BEFORE BOKO HARAM Dabaruus everyone!

 

Daniel Elombah

+44-7958588018

+44-2088087999

Every Nigerian that has something important to say, says it on www.elombah.com

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From: Yinka Odumakin <yinkaodumakin@yahoo.com>
To: "NaijaPolitics@yahoogroups.com" <NaijaPolitics@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: 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>; NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com; Nigerian Observer group <naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 10:03 PM
Subject: [Naijaintellects] Re: [NaijaPolitics] POINT-COUNTERPOINT: Fuel Subsidy Probe - Indignant Businessman Femi Otedola Confirms "Stinging" Insistent Lawmaker Farouk Lawan, Who Denies Everything about Any Bribery....

Deja vu!

At the peak of the power probe which revealed how the Obasanjo regime "misapplied" $16b on IPP without value for the country, the Ndidi Elumelu Committee was accused of a N5.2 b scam.All of a sudden the hunter became the hunted.

The hunters were charged over the N5.2b while the hunted had their papers thrown into some wardrobe at the villa.

Three years down the line the charges against the hunters were struck out following alleged presidential interference.Both the hunters and the hunted are effectively off the hook bringing to closure another scene in the long drama of corruption.

Encore 2012.The prosecution of the subsidy thieves who stole over N3 Trillion in 2011 whereas the total sum voted for subsidy in that year is N245b is being stalled when GEJ's Man Friday,Femi Otedola came out that he bribed Lawan Farouk.We can fill in the rest from now on.

But lest we forget,this is the letter Elumelu wrote to Jonathan before he was let go.

Mr. Elumelu's letter to President Jonathan is reproduced below:

Excellency,
Dr Goodluck Jonathan,
The  President & Commander in Chief,
Federal Republic of Nigeria,
State House, Abuja.
 
Dear Sir,
RE: UNNECESSARY PROSECUTIONS OF HON NDIDI ELUMELU & 8 OTHERS
AND WASTE OF OVER N100m PUBLIC FUNDS BY EFCC.
 
First and foremost, we want to appreciate your Excellency's efforts in steering the ship of this country in the right direction. Our prayer is that the good Lord will continue to assist your Excellency in solving the myriads of problems confronting our great country.
 
Your Excellency, our attention has been drawn to the continued prosecution of Hon Ndudi Elumelu and 8 others in Gudu High Court, Abuja (CHARGE NO: CR/39/2009) and Federal High Court, Abuja CHARGE NO: FHC/ABJ/CR/87/2009).
 
Sir, we are not oblivious of the disposition of your Excellency to preserve and uphold the rule of law and allow same to prevail at all times. However, we strongly believe that when a wrong step is taken by one's predecessor in Office who was wrongly misled by self serving advisers, it is proper for His Excellency, being a sitting President to give necessary directives to right the wrong.
 
Your Excellency, in November 2008, the late President Yar Adua gave his assent to the Amended Year 2008 Budget. There were rural electrification projects in the said Amended Budget which were to be executed by Rural Electrification Agency (REA). The projects have two components namely solar projects and Grid extension projects to be executed all over the Federation.
 
Sir, REA received Ministerial directives to execute the projects and the projects were awarded to deserving contractors in December 2008. The solar projects were to be completed within sixty (60) days which means by February 2009, the solar projects would have been completed while the Grid extension projects were to be completed within ninety (90) days which means that by March 2009, the grid extension projects would have been completed.
 
Sir, REA paid the initial 15% mobilization fees to the contractors and the payments were secured by Advance Payment Guarantee Certificates (APGS). Furthermore, since the projects have short completion period, the 85% contract balance were released to the Bankers of the contractors and same were secured with Advance Payment Guarantee Certificates (APGS). A copy of the 15% APG and 85% APG for one of the contractors is attached and marked Exhibits A and B for ease of reference.
 
Your Excellency, REA also wrote a letter to the Bankers prohibiting the Banks from releasing any part of the 85% contract balance until the projects are completed and the Banks received written instructions from REA to pay the said money. A copy of the said letter is attached and marked Exhibit C.
 
Your Excellency, in the history of rural electrification in this country, the success recorded by REA in executing the projects have not been surpassed by any MDA. The contractors were happy and concentrated on the projects with vigour having received assurances of payments after completion.
 
Regrettably sir, the late President Yar Adua was misinformed that officers of REA colluded with Honourable Ndudi Elumelu and other Members of the National Assembly to siphon the said 85% contract balance. The late President was not given any proper briefing before he sanctioned the prosecution of the accused persons by EFCC in May 2009.
 
Your Excellency, it is a matter of great concern that as at May 2009 when the accused persons were arraigned in court, out of forty (40) solar projects, eighteen (18) projects had been completed while sixty (60) projects had been completed out of one hundred and thirteen (113) grid extension projects awarded by REA.
 
Your Excellency, three months after the accused persons were arraigned in court, the EFCC Chairman, Madam Waziri confirmed in her letter dated August 18, 2009 and stated inter alia some of the projects were inspected by operatives of this commission and they observed that in certain cases the projects have been completed while some are ongoing. A copy of the said letter is attached as Exhibit D.
 
Your Excellency, in April 2011, the Federal Ministry of Power wrote two letters concerning the projects. The first letter was to each contractor in form of Job Completion Certificate while the second letter was an instruction to the Banks to pay the 85% contract balance in its custody to the contractors. Copies of the two letters are hereby attached and marked Exhibits E and F respectively.
 
Your Excellency, please permit us to ask this question. If Hon Ndidi Elumelu and other accused persons siphoned the 85% contract balance as alleged by EFCC, where did the Federal Ministry of Power get the money to be paid to the contractors?
 
Your Excellency, the EFCC letter dated August 18, 2009 (Exhibit D) and the two letters from Federal Ministry of Power dated April 18, 2011 (Exhibits E and F) are enough to show that there are no justifiable legal or moral reasons to allow this prosecution to continue when no money was actually lost or stolen or missing, the projects already completed and benefitting communities enjoying the power projects. In fact, in other countries, the Prosecution would take the shame and summon courage to inform the Honourable court that in view of the contents of the said EFCC letter (Exhibit D) and the two letters from the Federal Ministry of Power (Exhibits E and F), the Prosecution is no longer interested in continuing with the case. This event occurred recently in the United States when the Manhattan District Attorney and the New York Prosecutors applied to drop the charges against the former IMF Managing Director Mr. Strauss Khan (DSK) upon discovering contradictions in the evidence of the alleged rape victim.
 
Your Excellency, it is our humble appeal that the continued prosecution of this case is eaten deep into the meager resources of this country. We learnt on good authority that the private prosecutor engaged by EFCC is being paid the sum of N100m (one hundred million naira) apart from other expenses. This huge sum of money can provide solar projects in some communities living in darkness or meet the health needs of numerous communities and villages.
 
 Sir, the question bothering our mind is very simple. Why do we need to waste hard earned tax payers money to prosecute a case which is very obvious that EFCC cannot secure a conviction in view of their (EFCC) own letter (Exhibit D) and the two letters from Federal Ministry of Power (Exhibits E and F)? There are other questions but we must save the valuable time of your Excellency.
 
In view of the foregoing, we hereby urge your Excellency to note:
(a)   That the two cases pending against Hon Ndudi Elumelu and 8 others in Gudu High Court (Abuja) and Federal High Court (Abuja) concerning the rural electrification projects awarded by Rural Electrification Agency (REA) as provided under the Amended Year 2008 Budget of which said projects had been executed by contractors and benefitting communities already enjoying the projects [are] without merit and constitute a waste of public funds.
 
And humbly pray as follows:
(a)   That the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice be directed to withdraw the charges against all the accused persons in the said two cases at Gudu High Court, Abuja (CHARGE NO: CR/39/2009 & CR/39A/2011) and Federal High Court, Abuja CHARGE NO: FHC/ABJ/CR/87/2009) on ground of Public interest pursuant to Section 174 (1) (c) of the 1999 Constitution
 
We are grateful for your Excellency's prompt intervention in this matter.

Yours faithfully,
Hon. Ndudi Elumelu
On Behalf Of Others

-culled from saharareporters

Jonathan is definitely a highly compromised president under whom corruption is the rule of the game.

Yinka.

 

Sent from my I pad.

On Jun 11, 2012, at 8:32 PM, Mobolaji ALUKO <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:

 

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

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

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