[JUST IN] $500,000 bribe: Supreme Court upholds ex-Reps member’s five-year jail term

Akinwande Soji-Ojo

The Supreme Court has upheld the five-year jail term imposed on a former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan.

Lawan was convicted and sentenced in 2021 for accepting a $500,000 bribe from Femi Otedola, Chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd.

In a unanimous decision on Friday, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court agreed with the judgement of the Court of Appeal delivered in 2022, which affirmed Lawan’s five-year sentence on count three of the three charges brought against him at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In the judgement prepared by Justice John Okoro, and delivered by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the apex court found Lawan’s appeal to be without merit and dismissed it accordingly.

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory High had sentenced Lawan to seven years imprisonment in 2021, for receiving a $500,000 bribe while serving as the chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the fuel subsidy fraud in 2012.

The trial judge, Angela Otaluka, held that Lawan demanded $3 million bribe and received $500,000 from Otedola in 2012 to remove his oil company, Zenon Oil and Gas, from the list of firms indicted for fraud in the fuel subsidy regime.

She also held that Lawan was guilty of all three counts of corruption and bribery.

Not satisfied with the judgement, Lawan approached the appellate court, where his jail term was reduced from seven to five years.

Lawan subsequently went to the Supreme Court, urging the apex court to set aside the judgements of the lower courts.

Reading the lead judgement of, Justice Abubakar upheld the decision of the appeal court and dismissed Lawan’s appeal.