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Saturday 16 June 2012

“Re-listing Zenon Oil proves Lawan demanded $3m bribe from me,” – Otedola

Following the re-listing of Zenon Oil in the Subsidy report by the House of Representatives yesterday, the Chairman of the Oil firm, Mr. Femi Otedola has described the new step of the Lawmakers as a confirmation that the suspended Ad Hoc Chairman of Fuel subsidy, Farouk Lawan demanded for $3million as bribe from him. Already, Security Operatives have begun proper investigations on the bribery allegation. It will be recalled that the house at an emergency meeting on Friday removed Farouk Lawan, as the chairman of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on subsidy regime, even as the lawmakers re-listed the Zenon oil which had earlier been cleared. In a statement issued by Otedola said “I have stated the facts in my interview with Thisday newspaper and nothing but the facts. That Farouk Lawan demanded $3 million from me and because I refused to oblige him he included the name of Zenon amongst those who bought forex without importing petroleum products. He did this without even asking Zenon to produce single documents
of the forex transaction. He clearly wanted to extort money for an offence I did not commit. That is why I went to report to the security agencies. If I had anything to hide I wouldn’t have gone to the agencies. There is an old adage that says “people who live in glass houses should not throw stones”. “Moreover it is not possible to purchase $232, 975,385.13 million from CBN without importing the product. The total figure is not even $232, 975,385.13 million as alleged but $372, 207, 990 million. They should go and amend the report to read $372, 207, 990 million which is the correct figure. It is not possible to purchase this volume of forex from the CBN with first class banks such as Access bank, FCMB, GTB, UBA and an international bank BNP Paribas which is one of the biggest and most respected banks in the world. “If people at my level who have worked hard to build their businesses can be blackmailed this way all in a bid to extort money from them, I pity people that are just starting out in business in this country. In all my business dealings I have always been above board and the records are there to prove. As far as I know Lawan could not have been working alone in this extortionist plot. A tree does not make a forest. Let me also state for the records that we are not in any way affiliated to the other company Synopsis enterprises Ltd also included in the report. Actions of today by the house is laughable, a mere celebration of corruption and a further indictment on their honorable member.”

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