Following
the decision of the House of Reps to refer his oil company, Zenon Oil
to anti-graft agencies for fraud investigation, Mr Femi Otedola has
described the plenary session of the House as a celebration of
corruption.
A statement issued by him in reaction to the House
resolution reads: “I have stated the facts in my interview with Thisday
newspaper and nothing but the facts. That Farouk Lawan demanded $3
million from me and because I refused to oblige him he included the name
of Zenon amongst those who bought forex without importing petroleum
products. He did this without even asking Zenon to produce a single
document of the forex transaction. He clearly wanted to extort money for
an offence I did not commit. That is why I went to report to the
security agencies. If I had anything to hide I wouldn’t have gone to the
agencies. There is an old adage that says “people who live in glass
houses should not throw stones”.
“Moreover it is not possible to
purchase $232, 975,385.13 million from CBN without importing the
product. The total figure is not even $232, 975,385.13 million as
alleged but $372, 207, 990 million. They should go and amend the report
to read $372, 207, 990 million which is the correct figure. It is not
possible to purchase this volume of forex from the CBN with first class
banks such as Access bank, FCMB, GTB, UBA and an international bank BNP
Paribas which is one of the biggest and most respected banks in the
world.
“If people at my level who have worked hard to build their
businesses can be blackmailed this way all in a bid to extort money from
them, I pity people that are just starting out in business in this
country. In all my business dealings I have always been above board and
the records are there to prove. As far as I know Lawan could not have
been working alone in this extortionist plot. A tree does not make a
forest. Let me also state for the records that we are not in any way
affiliated to the other company Synopsis enterprises Ltd also included
in the report. Actions of today by the house is laughable, a mere
celebration of corruption and a further indictment on their honorable
member.
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