The Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Delegated Legislation, Dominic Okafor, has denied an allegation of a $140 million bribe from top executives of cryptocurrency giants, Binance Holdings Limited.
Okafor said the publication alleging such was an attempt to smear his name.
He said he was still consulting his media team on the next step to take.
The lawmaker who represents Aguata Federal Constituency, Anambra State, had during Wednesday’s plenary, sponsored a motion to investigate the escape of Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, in a security breach while in a Guest House under the office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
“I am here this afternoon to talk about the false information that has been going on in the social media since after the sponsorship of my motion on Wednesday, May 8, a motion of urgent national importance in which I talked about the need to investigate the escape from custody of one of the executives of Binance, Mr Nadir Anjewala.
“Shortly after I moved that motion which was well received and a lot of people were calling to commend me.
“I started getting calls from my friends from around the world, saying I collected bribes from this very company. I got worried and after that wrote a letter to Premium Times, the media company that originated the story.
“I wrote a letter to them which I copied the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Clerk, Inspector General of Police, EFCC and DSS.
“I asked them to retrieve the information within 24 hours and if not, I will take legal action against them.”
“I am coming from the private sector. I have been a member of Rotary International for over 25 years for those of you who know what Rotary means and what it stands for. And someone wants to tarnish that image and integrity I have built over the years.
“For the online media man that accused me of collecting $140 million, I don’t think that is something we would sweep under the carpet. I am discussing with my legal team to know the right action to take.”
He emphasized that the motion he moved had to do with the investigation to find out how Nadeem Anjarwalla escaped from the custody of national security and had nothing to do with bribery.