FG to Unveil Beneficiaries of Halliburton Bribe
A
full blown probe is set to be launched into the highly controversial
Halliburton scandal with a threat of exposure of all the names
implicated.
Abubakar Malami
The Federal Government moved a notch higher in its anti-graft war,
last night, with a confirmation that it was launching a comprehensive
probe into the controversial Halliburton bribery case in which top
Nigerian politicians allegedly received huge bribes in the region of
N66 billion, according to the Vanguard.
The bribes were taken by top players in government between 1994 and 1998 from five major companies that were awarded $6 billion for the construction of gas trains in Bonny Island in Rivers State for the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company, NLNG.
Under the fresh probe being ordered by the Buhari administration, and unlike in the past, the key players in the Nigerian government, who demanded and collected the huge sums of money and those who offered the bribes, are to be fished out and prosecuted.
It was also learned that the Federal Government was keen on determining if, indeed, the sum of $200 million said to have been paid by the five companies, which were indicted over the scam, was indeed remitted into the purse of the government.
The fresh enquiry will also ascertain why five senior Nigerian lawyers, who negotiated with the indicted multinational firms to escape prosecution in Nigeria and paid the $200 million fines, collected close to $12 million as ‘legal fees’ from the fines.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, who confirmed the fresh probe being launched by the government in an interview with Vanguard last night, said both criminal and civil charges would be pressed against the suspects.
Malami, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said nothing would be left to chance in the new attempt to investigate the multi-million Naira scam that had cast the nation in bad light in the international community.
Malami said: “It is true that the federal government is undertaking a comprehensive probe of the Halliburton bribery scandal and we are not leaving anything to chance this time around.
“The recent invitation of some persons for questioning by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC, in connection with the bribery, is the beginning of the fresh effort to unravel all the issues related to the case and it is going on as planned.
“I want to say that if we need to proceed with criminal prosecution after our investigations, we will do that, and if we need to go for recovery and prosecution, we will do so. Nothing will be left to chance,” the minister said.
The bribes were taken by top players in government between 1994 and 1998 from five major companies that were awarded $6 billion for the construction of gas trains in Bonny Island in Rivers State for the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company, NLNG.
Under the fresh probe being ordered by the Buhari administration, and unlike in the past, the key players in the Nigerian government, who demanded and collected the huge sums of money and those who offered the bribes, are to be fished out and prosecuted.
It was also learned that the Federal Government was keen on determining if, indeed, the sum of $200 million said to have been paid by the five companies, which were indicted over the scam, was indeed remitted into the purse of the government.
The fresh enquiry will also ascertain why five senior Nigerian lawyers, who negotiated with the indicted multinational firms to escape prosecution in Nigeria and paid the $200 million fines, collected close to $12 million as ‘legal fees’ from the fines.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, who confirmed the fresh probe being launched by the government in an interview with Vanguard last night, said both criminal and civil charges would be pressed against the suspects.
Malami, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said nothing would be left to chance in the new attempt to investigate the multi-million Naira scam that had cast the nation in bad light in the international community.
Malami said: “It is true that the federal government is undertaking a comprehensive probe of the Halliburton bribery scandal and we are not leaving anything to chance this time around.
“The recent invitation of some persons for questioning by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC, in connection with the bribery, is the beginning of the fresh effort to unravel all the issues related to the case and it is going on as planned.
“I want to say that if we need to proceed with criminal prosecution after our investigations, we will do that, and if we need to go for recovery and prosecution, we will do so. Nothing will be left to chance,” the minister said.
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