Jeffrey "It's never my fault" Nape finally arrested for bribery

News
Wednesday 11th July, 2012
Nape denies bribery claim

By Michael Koma

SPEAKER Jeffrey Nape has strongly denied that there was any bribery involved leading to his arrest, instead he claimed it was a set up by his rivals.

Mr Nape, who got arrested by police for allegedly bribing an independent candidate, told the Post-Courier last night that he was set up and connived into assisting a candidate for his election expenses.

He said the person that called him, conned him into what had transpired and that he impersonated the candidate asking for assistance.

“Actually there was no bribery involved. There was a set up. I don’t know that person (candidate),’’ he said.

“I don’t know his mobile number and I personally did not contact him. Somebody informed me that he wanted financial support for his election expenses, and because of that I was given his account number.

“The person that spoke to me gave me his account number …you know, a bank account is your personal life…so I assumed that it was real and that he really needed the funds for his election. There was never any intention of a bribe involved but because I did not check properly, this is what happened.

“After the transfer, I felt that it was not right so I advised the bank to get the money back and pay it into my account and that is how everything transpired,” he said.

Speaker Nape said the police asked him about the matter and he told them that it was never meant to be that way, adding there was no bribery involved.

He said he wanted to talk to the candidate but he did not have his contact address or phone number so it should not be contested in court.