$3m bribery scam: Farouk, Emenalo beg court to quash charge

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA – Embattled former Chairman and Secretary of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on fuel subsidy probe, Farouk Lawal and Mr Boniface Emenalo, Wednesday, approached Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi of an Abuja High Court, begging him to quash the 7-count criminal charge that was preferred against them by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC.

The duo who were accused of demanding and collecting bribe from the Chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, Femi Otedola, as an inducement to remove the name of his company from the report of the House of Reps Ad-hoc committee on Monitoring of fuel subsidy regime, contended that the anti-graft agency has failed to adduce any credible evidence to warrant their prosecution.

Arguing through their lead counsel, Mr Ricky Tarfa, SAN, the lawmakers who had on February 1, pleaded not guilty to the charge and subsequently spent seven days at Kuje Prison, yesterday, insisted that the ICPC was unable to establish a prima-facie case against them.

Besides, they argued that going by the totality of the proof of evidence before the trial court, vis-à-vis the allegation, the court ought not to have granted the anti-graft agency the leave to prefer the charge against them, “since the prosecution failed to provide adequate material necessary for the judge to exercise discretion in favour of the application for leave.”

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