EFCC grills Nigerians over Halliburton scam
From Mathias Okwe, Azimazi Momoh Jimoh and Lemmy Ughegbe, Abuja
IT may not take long before Nigerians formally know their leaders that featured in the alleged bribe-for contract scam at the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Trains One to Trains Seven projects.
At home and abroad, the Federal Government and its agencies have intensified efforts to unmask the senior government officials that took bribe from Halliburton, an American firm to award the controversial contracts.
Yesterday, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri hinted that the anti-graft agency had invited some Nigerians accused of complicity in the multi- million dollars contract scam for explanation.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had barred the United States (US) firm from doing business in Nigeria but the incumbent President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua government last year lifted the lid on the firm.
Last weekend, a Federal Government delegation led by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kaase Michael Aondoakaa, hit Washington, seeking American government's support under both nations' Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to obtain the list and other information on the Nigerian officials and foreigners that participated in the fraud.
Nigeria on Monday formally informed (note verbal) the U.S. of the request for assistance to enable it prosecute the affected Nigerians.
Waziri told reporters yesterday shortly after the opening of a two-day workshop on "Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT)" in Abuja that the investigation of Nigerians alleged to be involved in the Halliburton scam was on course.
"We are working on that case, we have written to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), we need to have them in court, so that we can see the ruling, the names and what each person did.
"We also invited some people that were mentioned and specifically we recorded their statements. We are working on that. You know that it is trite law that nobody is above the laws of the land. The law is no respecter of persons, everybody is equal before the laws of the land, so I do not know whether prominent or whatever. If you are indicted and we have our proofs that you breached the law, of course, you are liable.''
The EFCC boss, however, declined to give the identities of the Nigerians so far grilled by the commission on the saga.
On the Vaswani Brothers' alleged duties scam, she said the immediate past Comptroller- General of Customs, Mr. Ahmed Bello, was already helping the agency with sufficient information on the matter that could hasten the prosecution of the businessmen. She warned that Nigeria would not tolerate foreigners who come to the country with fraudulent intention.
"These are people who said we were just trying to antagonise them, send them out of business because we are working for Nigeria. They said they were innocent. And somebody went to say, look you breached the law and the former comptroller-general of Customs asked me to waive it and we called him, it is written there in black and white.
"We cannot allow foreigners to come here and take advantage of us because I know that we can't go out there and do one quarter of what they are doing in this country,'' she said.
The EFCC boss, who dismissed perception that her commission was reluctant to probe Obasanjo's alleged involvement in the Halliburton scandal, said "nobody is above the laws of the land, everybody is, rather, equal before the law. If any one is indicted and our investigations prove they breached the law, of course they are liable."
She identified the twin evil of money laundering and financing terrorism as major obstacles to the development of the country's economy. She said that the global economic meltdown was a pointer to the urgent need for all countries to ensure effective anti-money laundering programmes.
Waziri warned that the EFCC would not condone any act that threatens the economic stability of Nigeria. "We will strictly enforce the money laundering compliance requirements of the law and where market operators and reporting entities are found wanting, the commission will firmly and decisively deal with defaulters," she declared.
Aondoakaa emphasised the need to address the twin crimes - money laundering and financing terrorism - through appropriate legislation.
He said while money laundering constitutes a serious economic problem, financing of terrorism represents a threat to the internal security of every country.
"The need for concerted local and international efforts against money laundering, financing terrorism and other forms of corruption has been made more imperative by the current global financial crisis.
"As the revenue available to government and institutions face increasing depletion as a result of the crisis, there is a concurrent need for us all to ensure that the available resources are utilised in a more transparent, prudent and accountable manner," he stated.
To strengthen the crusade against corruption in the country, the Senate has resolved to amend the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission Act. The planned changes, among others, will empower the anti-graft body to investigate persons over allegations of corruption without petition.
During the debate on the general principles of the amendment Bill, Senators suggested that the commission should be empowered to confiscate assets, which had been subject of investigation over corrupt practices.
Leading the debate, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Anti-Corruption, Sola Akinyede, said: "The amendment being sought is in respect of situations where money, stocks, property, real or personal is suspected to have been acquired in breach of the provisions of the ICPC Act and the suspected owner of the property is a fugitive or a person that cannot be located despite the exercise of due diligence or a person who resides outside Nigeria or within but efforts at locating the person are impossible or unproductive."
Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) said: "For me, the cheapest way to re-brand Nigeria is not the talk about us being a changed people, it will be through our commitment to a new set of values and one of those values will be an obvious commitment to the fight against corruption."
