Indications emerged yesterday that the police searched the home of Farouk Lawan in a bid to recover the $620, 000, which is at the centre of the controversy between him and Femi Otedola.
A source close to the lawmaker said that the police barred Lawan’s lawyers from witnessing the search of his home, although his wife and children were present during the raid.
Details of what they took away from the lawmaker’s Apo Legislative Quarters were not made public, but it was learnt that his diplomatic passport was seized by the police.
The source said that the police however, accorded respect to the lawmaker throughout his stay with them.
Meanwhile, the search conducted by the police in Lawan Farouk’s house reportedly led the discovery of $10,000, which the police claimed was part of the bribe funds.
But the lawmaker maintained that the money was part of the money he recently came back with from one of his overseas trips.
He maintained that the money was not marked.
It is not known how much was found on the home of Lawan’s former clerk, Mr. Boniface Emenalo.
LEADERSHIP source said the police were shocked at the discovery of a huge amount of dollars in the public officers’ homes. It was learnt that the shocking find informed the police stringent bail conditions handed down to the suspects.
Although the bail conditions were not made known, LEADERSHIP gathered that they were such that the duo could not meet before the close of work yesterday.
To this end, the two suspects are to spend their weekend with the police, who are likely to arraign them in court early next week for the alleged offence.
Reacting to the development in the House yesterday, the chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, Mr. Femi Otedola, said that it would have been impossible for him to draw the a whopping sum of $372, 207,990? without importing petroleum products.
Otedola said that the amount of foreign exchange collected by his firm stood at $372, 207, 990 and not $323, 975, 385.13 claimed by the House committee on subsidy probe.
“They should go and amend the report to read $372, 207, 990, which is the correct figure,” Otedola said.