The House of Representatives yesterday said that it will investigate allegations of bribery levelled against chairman of the ad hoc committee on fuel subsidy probe Rep. Farouk Lawan, saying it will not support underhand deal from any quarters.Chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity Zakari Mohammed who made this known in a statement said, 'While we await investigation into these weighty ac-cusations, we wish to state without equivocation that this Honourable House will never take sides with corruption and we will always stand on the side of the rule of law. We cannot, for whatever reason, support any underhand dealing from any quarter.'Chairman, Zenon Petroleum & Gas Limited Femi Otedola said in some national dailies yesterday that Rep Lawan had collected $620,000 from him in a sting operation masterminded by the security agencies.The amount, according to Ote-dola, was part payment for $3 million, which he alleged Lawan had demanded from him to exonerate Zenon Oil from the committee's report.Otedola 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 and on Monday April 23 'Lawan came and collected another $250,000.'Lawan however, in a statement on Sunday, denied the allegations describing it as 'baseless and cheap blackmail'.He said after his committee uncovered a N1 trillion fraud in the subsidy implementation, it should be expected that the powerful cabal behind the high-scale corruption in the oil sector would not only fight back but would fight dirty.The statement reads in part: 'I wish to 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 this is evident from thorough and indebt manner the investigation was carried out and the all- encompassing recommendations produced there from as approved by the whole House.'Daily Trust gathered last night that Lawan had earlier intimated the Nigeria Police Force Head Quarters in Abuja over attempts by Otedola to bribe him and that he had in April written to the Chairman of the House committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crime Jagaba Adams Jagaba about the issue in a letter dated April 24, 2012, in which he complained of Otedola's efforts to offer him bribe to influence outcome of the investigation.The letter obtained by our reporter reads in part: 'Atttached (to the letter) is the sum of five hundred thousand dollars only offered to me with another promise of two million, five hundred thousand dollars.'Lawan, in the said letter to Jagaba, said that he did not raise the issue on the floor of the House because it would overshadow the essence of the fuel subsidy probe.'I had considered bringing this issue as a matter of privilege on the floor of the House later today (April 24), but I am concerned that the controversy it will generate will dwarf the contents of the report, which needs public attention so that necessary reforms in the sector could be affected.''Given the desperation of Mr. Otedola, handling this matter, in a firm but diplomatic manner is necessary as he has also made some veiled threats which put me and members of the committee in a delicate situation,' Lawan said in the letter.The lawmaker also disclosed that the clerk of the ad hoc committee, Boniface Emenalo, had in a letter written to him on April 24, 2012, said Otedola offered him $100,000.Emenalo's letter reads in part: 'I wish to inform you that I was on his invitation, at the residence of their Chairman, Mr. Femi Otedola, in Maitama (Aso Drive) this morning and he offered me the sum of one hundred thousand US dollars in two bundles of $50,000 each. The money is hereby forwarded as evidence.'Lawan said the police were aware of the offer of bribe to the committee as the Inspector-General in a letter dated May 9, 2012, directed the task force on investigation to meet him.The IGP in the letter with reference number CR:3000/IGP.SEC/STF/FHQ/ABJ/VOL 2/309 had called Lawan's attention to an interview he granted a national newspaper on April 28, 2012 and directed, 'a discreet investigation into the matter.' The letter was signed by the Commissioner of Police, Special Task Force, Ali Amodu.In another letter dated May 16, 2012 with reference number CR:3000/IGP.SEC/STF/FHQ/ABJ/VOL 2/319, and signed by Amodu, the IGP requested money exhibit, names of witnesses and other material evidence from Lawan.Lawan explained that in a letter dated May 31, 2012, he told the IGP that the bribe matter had been referred to the relevant committee of the House for legislative action and promised to furnish the Police authorities with the outcome.Daily Trust also gathered that the IGP in a letter to the Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, dated June 4, 2012, informed the parliament that he had caused a detailed criminal investigation into the matter.
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