• MSN
  • Hotmail
  • More
    • Autos
    • My MSN
    • Video
    • Careers & Jobs
    • Personals
    • Weather
    • Delish
    • Quotes
    • White Pages
    • Games
    • Real Estate
    • Wonderwall
    • Horoscopes
    • Shopping
    • Yellow Pages
    • Local Edition
    • Traffic
    • Feedback
    • Maps & Directions
    • Travel
    • Full MSN Index
  • Bing
  • NBCNews.com
  • TODAY
  • Nightly News
  • Rock Center
  • Meet the Press
  • Dateline
  • msnbc
  • Breaking News
  • Newsvine
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Travel
  • Local
  • Weather
Advertise | AdChoices
  • Recommended: In Syria, 'winning' is a relative term
  • Recommended: Palestinian kids swept up in wave of Israeli arrests
  • Recommended: Report: Iran hangs 2 alleged spies working for Israel, US
  • Recommended: 'Eternal' delays to airport, billion-dollar concert hall hit German reputation for efficiency

First for breaking news and analysis: Compelling world news stories from NBC News journalists. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

  • ↓ About this blog
  • ↓ Archives
    • Icons Email E-mail updates
    • Icons Twitter Follow on Twitter
    • Icons Feed Subscribe to RSS
  • 15
    Jun
    2012
    4:15pm, EDT

    Nigerian whistleblower under investigation for alleged corruption

    By Reuters

    A Nigerian legislator who uncovered a $6.8 billion scam in state fuel subsidy payments has been suspended while police investigate claims he demanded a bribe from a fuel trader, in exchange for keeping him off the list.

    Farouk Lawan's parliamentary probe blew the whistle on one of the biggest corruption scandals in Nigeria's history in April, revealing a web of collusion between oil ministry officials and fuel marketers to claim subsidy payments for billions of gallons of fuel that was never delivered.


    But allegations that he demanded - and took some of - a $3 million bribe from one of Nigeria's richest oil tycoons Femi Otedola to scrub his name off the list have cast doubt on the whole report.

    A special NBC News series: What The World Thinks of U.S. Click here for the introduction

    "The house should suspend Farouk Lawan as the chairman of the ad-hoc committee on the monitoring of the utilization of the fuel subsidy pending the investigation of the bribery allegation against him," the resolution said.

    Lawan was still being questioned by police on Friday and unavailable for comment.

    The national press this week quoted Otedola as saying Lawan approached him for a bribe, some of which he paid but secretly filmed it so he could expose Lawan.

    When voting on the report, parliament inexplicably voted to remove Zenon from the list of fuel companies abusing the subsidy - the report initially estimated that Zenon owed at least $1.4 million to the government for fraudulent subsidy payments.

    The house also resolved on Friday to put Zenon back on the list in the report.

    It is not clear if the allegation is a smear campaign, a frequent tactic in Nigerian politics.

    Lawan had called for the board of the state oil firm to resign, including including its head, Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, and the firm's chief executive Austen Oniwon -- two of the most powerful people in Nigeria that few would dare take on.

    Parliament's speaker Aminu Tambuwal defended the probe into fuel subsidy abuses.

    "We reject in totality the insinuations that the allegation has eroded the integrity of the outcome of our investigation into the management of fuel subsidy," he said.

    "We have not been compromised ... in our stand against corruption."

    More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    • Are Libyans turning against the West?
    • Bartering takes hold in austerity-wracked Greece
    • Three dead, one critical in Alberta campus shooting
    • Forest Boy' mystery solved: Man admits lies over identity
    • Last fugitive in 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack arrested
    • Gruesome photos spotlight China's one-child policy
    • Egyptian media targets Islamist candidate
    • Report: US expands secret 'shadow war' in Africa
    • Transgender pageant winner murdered in South Africa

    Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

     

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

    16 comments

    This is what happens when you dare to take on the corrupt and powerful in a third world country. They find a way to smear you and take you down with them, if you manage to take them down at all.

    Show more
    Explore related topics: oil, nigeria, whistleblower, corruption, featured, bribe, farouk-lawan

Browse

  • featured,
  • world-news,
  • syria,
  • china,
  • europe,
  • afghanistan,
  • world,
  • middle-east,
  • israel,
  • pakistan,
  • egypt,
  • iran,
  • russia,
  • updated,
  • uk,
  • north-korea,
  • africa,
  • london,
  • military,
  • assad,
  • france,
  • protest,
  • environment,
  • al-qaida,
  • britain,
  • taliban,
  • nuclear,
  • italy,
  • india,
  • terrorism,
  • asia,
  • germany,
  • japan,
  • vatican,
  • economy,
  • crime,
  • human-rights,
  • mexico,
  • south-africa,
  • pope
Also
Advertise | AdChoices

Archives

  • 2013
    • May (155)
    • April (275)
    • March (432)
    • February (332)
    • January (323)
  • 2012
    • December (332)
    • November (332)
    • October (313)
    • September (360)
    • August (362)
    • July (310)
    • June (351)
    • May (427)
    • April (404)
    • March (427)
    • February (347)
    • January (284)
  • 2011
    • December (357)
    • November (3)

Most Commented

  • Girl's organs removed after vacation death; family believes they may have been sold (618)
  • Chef to the stars Miki Nozawa dies following confrontation over unpaid bill (412)
  • Price of a night's sleep? Israel reportedly spends $127K to build bedroom on PM's plane (442)
  • Two waiters arrested in killing of Malcolm X's grandson in Mexico (414)
  • Japanese mayor: WWII 'comfort women' sex slaves 'necessary' for morale (392)
  • Six Americans, Afghan children among dead in Kabul suicide attack (536)
  • 'Love has won out over hate': France becomes 14th country to allow gay marriage (1589)

Other blogs

  • The Body Odd
  • Cosmic Log
  • Red Tape Chronicles
  • PhotoBlog
  • US News
  • Open Channel

NBCNews.com top stories

3147,10
© 2013 NBCNews.com
  • World news on NBCNews.com
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Help
  • Site map
  • Careers
  • Closed captioning
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Advertise