A High Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has sentenced the former Chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on Petroleum Subsidy, Farouk Lawan to seven years in prison.
Lawan during trial on Tuesday was found guilty of count one, two, and three bothering on corruptly asking for and obtaining same from Femi Otedola, in order to exonerate Zelon Petroleum and Gas Limited from the list of companies in the fuel subsidy scam.
For count one and two the court sentenced him to seven years while for count three he was sentenced to five years.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
The court also ordered that the defendant return the sum of $500,000 to the Federal Government.
While evaluating evidence in her judgement on Tuesday, the trial judge, Ms Otaluka, noted that from the pool of evidence before the court, the prosecuting lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo, had established a case of corrupt practices against the defendant in Count One of the charge that borders on corruptly requesting a bribe of three million dollars.
“Count One of the charges is not based on suspicion but on credible evidence. The defendant (Mr Lawan) corruptly asked for $3million and received a $500,000 bribe in two tranches from Femi Otedola,” the judge said.
The judge also dismissed Mr Lawan’s claim that he received the $500,000 to obtain proof of moves by Mr Otedola to induce him and members of his committee.