Hon Lawan gets his seven year jail sentence for bribery reduced to five by appeal court

FORMER chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance Hon Farouk Lawan has had his seven year jail sentence for bribery reduced to five  by the Federal Court of Appeal in Abuja.

On June 22 last year, Hon Lawan was convicted by an Abuja high court on a three-count charge of soliciting bribes, agreeing to accept bribes and actually accepting a $500,000 bribe from businessman Femi Otedola. In her ruling, Justice Angela Otaluka, sentenced Hon Lawan to seven years on count one, seven years on count two and five years on count three, with the sentences to run concurrently.

However, Hon Lawan has since appealed the judgement and in a unanimous judgment yesterday, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, led by its president, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, quashed the convictions on counts one and two. The court held that the prosecution failed to prove both counts relating to demanding for and agreeing to accept a $3m bribe from Mr Otedola.

Also, the appeal court found that the prosecution was only able to prove the third count relating to his accepting bribe of $500,000. Consequently, the court then acquitted Hon Lawan on counts one and two but convicted him on count three on which he was sentenced to five years.