The controversy over $620,000 fuel subsidy bribe allegation deepened yesterday with the Chairman of the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee that probed the fuel subsidy regime, Hon.Farouk Lawan, accusing Chairman of Zenon Oil and Gas, Mr. Femi Otedola, of offering a $3 million bribe to spare his company in its report.

He said Otedola made a $500,000 down payment with a promise to pay up the remaining $2.5 million if the committee spared Zenon, but that the matter had been reported to the police. He dismissed Otedola’s claims that he and his committee’s secretary, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, collected $620,000 bribe from him unaware it was a sting operation as “diversionary,” saying Otedola actually offered Emenalo $100,000 to shield Zenon during the probe.

Lawan said the probe had subjected his life to a chain of threats, but that he remained unshaken. The lawmaker said shortly after Otedola approached him with the money, he duly informed Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Crimes.

In a letter dated April 24, 2012, Lawan wrote: “Attached (to the letter) is the sum of five hundred thousand dollars only, offered to me with another promise of two million, five hundred thousand dollars.”

The lawmaker said that his decision not to raise the matter on the floor of the House was deliberate, as he did not want anything that would overshadow the fuel subsidy probe.

“I had considered bringing this issue as a matter of privilege on the floor of the House later today (April 24), but I am concerned that the controversy it will generate will dwarf the contents of the report, which needs public attention so that necessary reforms in the sector could be effected,” the letter read.

“Given the desperation of Mr. Otedola, handling this matter, in a firm but diplomatic manner, is necessary as he had also made some veiled threats which put me and members of the committee in a delicate situation.”

To underscore Otedola’s desperation, said Lawan, Emenalo, had in a letter dated April 24, 2012, raised the alarm that Otedola offered him $100,000. “I wish to inform you that I was on his invitation, at the residence of their Chairman, Mr. Femi Otedola, in Maitama (Aso Drive ) this morning and he offered me the sum of one hundred thousand US dollars in two bundles of $50,000 each. The money is hereby forwarded as evidence,” Emenalo’s letter read.

The Acting Inspector-General of Police(IGP), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, said Lawan had on May 9, 2012, directed a task force to interact with him. The Acting IGP in the letter marked CR:3000/IGP.SEC/STF/FHQ/ABJ/VOL 2/309, drew Lawan’s attention to an interview he granted a national newspaper on April 28,2012, directing “a discreet investigation into the matter.”