An Abuja High Court, Friday, granted bail to the former Chairman of House of Representative Ad Hoc Committee on fuel subsidy payments, Farouk Lawan, and the secretary of the committee, Boniface Emenalo. The two men have been in held in prison for about a week.
They are being prosecuted by the Federal Government for collecting $620, 000 (N93 million) as bribe from business man, Femi Otedola, to remove his company, Zenon Oil, from the list of indicted companies.
The Judge, Mudashiru Oniyangi, granted them bail on the sum of N10 million each and two sureties each in like sum.
He also directed them to submit their international passports with the court registrar, adding that they can only travel outside Nigeria with the permission of the court.
The Judge based his decision to grant bail on the discretionary powers of the court and the inability of the prosecution to file a counter affidavit to the one filed by the accused persons detailing their reasons for asking for bail.
He fixed April 10 and 17 for hearing.
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