Criticisms trail govt’s handling of Halliburton scam
By Bertram Nwannekanma

THE Federal Government’s handling of the Halliburton bribery scandal at the weekend came under attack from an opposition party and civil society groups.

They faulted the government’s approach and explanation that it was yet to get the identities of the Nigerian senior officials, who oiled the corruption network.

The Action Congress (AC), which reacted to the position of the government on the scam, warned against any attempt to treat with levity those involved in the scandal, “no matter their status in the society.”

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), which expressed anger over the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa’s (SAN) recent comments on the fraud, demanded his removal from office and urgent replacement.

The Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), which had faulted the government’s position has taken the matter to the United Nations (UN) Conference of States Parties in Vienna, Austria, which it asked to prevail on the Nigerian government to make the names of suspects public, and bring them to justice without further delay.

The UN Conference of States Parties is the body charged with overseeing the implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption.

Aondoakaa was quoted recently as saying that “truly, bribe was paid and the money was traced to specific accounts in Switzerland but that it has not been established whether any Nigerian official actually took the bribes.”

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the AC asked the government to immediately identify the alleged bribe takers and begin the process of prosecuting them, or “watch its anti-corruption campaign go up in flames!”

The party said “all the talk about not knowing the real identity of those involved is sheer bunkum that cannot stand even a perfunctory scrutiny.

It also described as an “unnecessary distraction, perhaps an orchestrated one, the statement credited to the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa, that $150 million of the $180 million involved in the Halliburton bribery scandal has been found in some accounts in Zurich, Switzerland, without the identities of the account owners being known.

“Our response to this tallies with that of the civil rights group Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), which had said in a statement: ‘Normal banking practices suggest that funds lodged in any bank are ascribed or owned by identifiable persons.”’

AC insisted that it would not buy the alibi that the government cannot get identities of those who ran the 10-year bribe-for- contracts in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Trains One to Trains Seven projects.

“The attorney-general’s statement that ‘the judgment in the United States (U.S.) is under seal…so you can’t get the names except the U.S. government released them under classified information’ is totally unacceptable to us. If this government is serious about getting the names of the alleged bribe-takers, the U.S. will definitely not prevent that.

“In any case, didn’t the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) say, in published reports, that the Nigerians involved in the scandal are being interrogated? Is it possible to interrogate people who are not known, as claimed by the AGF?” AC asked, adding however that only the government does not know the identities of those involved in the scam.

While condemning what it called “President Yar’Adua’s deliberated policy of protecting looters who are responsive for the backwardness and failure of the Nigerian state”, the group also called for a total independence for the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies for effective service delivery in the country.

Also, CACOL in a statement signed by its chairman, Debo Adeniran yesterday, queried the process of unmasking the affected Nigerians.

It said Aondoakaa or even Mrs. Farida Waziri (EFCC boss) only need to approach the French Embassy to access these documents. “Nobody needs to leave the shores of this country to get that list since the mess actually started in Paris where all documents, including names of the individuals, companies, agent’s accounts and banks are in possession of a magistrate’s court.

“Getting the list of this national shame is not as arduous as the AG (Aondoakaa) is making it seem as well as his gallivanting around the world ostensibly looking for a list that is not hidden is a sheer criminal waste of public funds which itself amounts to operational corruption.

“The United States of America, was a wrong place for the AG to be looking for a mere list of thieves in the Halliburton bribery scandal,” it said.

CACOL also called for a wholesale arrest, prosecution and sanctioning of all former and current public office holders who have been proven or at least seen to be living and possessing properties well above their legitimate earnings no matter how powerful, wealthy, influential or dangerous they may be.

In the petition dated April 9, 2009, and signed by SERAP’s Executive Director Adetokunbo Mumuni, the group said: “Normal banking practices suggest that funds lodged in any bank are ascribed or owned by identifiable persons. In fact, Article 14 of the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party requires state parties to deter and detect all forms of money-laundering, including by keeping records and information about beneficial owner; and to fully share information about money remitters, and originator. States are also required to maintain such information throughout the payment chain.

“On the basis of the above, we believe that the details of the account holders are available but it may be that the Nigerian government failed and/or neglected to obtain these details.

“Alternatively, it may be that the government has not fully disclosed the information at its disposal concerning the names of the suspects. Since the discovery of the $150 million should automatically lead to the identification of the names of the account holders, it is more likely that the government knows the names of the suspects but is refusing to disclose these to the Nigerian public. This would amount to a fundamental breach of the UN Convention against Corruption,” Mumuni said.