Buhari under pressure to stop Halliburton probe

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will certainly be facing tempting challenge the outcome which may be litmus test of his resolve to fight corruption in the country. Buhari has repeatedly declared his zero tolerance for corruption since he returned to govern the country for a second time in his lifetime.

Buhari has seemingly been placed in dilemma over the demand from the United States of America (USA) which has  asked the President  to reopen the $182 million Halliburton bribery scandal and diligently prosecute all those involved. The report of the probe indicted three former heads of state and some other former government officials.  

The probe report which was kept in the cooler over the years  indicted the administrations of Late General Sani Abacha, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. When former President Goodluck Jonathan made the statement that Buhari should not only probe his administration but extend his intended probe to past governments before him, the former president might have been asking the incumbent president to carry a high mountain on his head.

The unimplemented report indicated that bribe of $182 million was paid to these past administrations by a foreign company to facilitate a contract worth about $1.2 billion. The bribes were allegedly paid in installments of $60 million in 1995, $37.5 million in 1999, $51 million in 2001 and $23 million in 2002.

Meanwhile, the President has been under intense pressure to discontinue the Haliburton probe because the principal actors indicted in the bribe scandal played important roles in his electoral victory over the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the general elections. Certain prominent leaders, interest groups and some of his political associates have counseled that those who played the godfather in Buhari's presidential election will become first casualties in his anti-corruption war if he continues with the Haliburton investigation.  They suggested to him that it is too early for the administration to embark on such task that would create enemies for his leadership that is yet to take off properly. Thus, there have been pressures on the President to trade with caution over the rising external influences and discontinue the Haliburton case, at least for now.

Some other stakeholders in the country have also argued that the demand from the US for the re-opening of the Haliburton bribe scandal may be a plot to create confusion for the APC government, pitch the president against political forces that could work against the party in future elections.   The US Government is also asking for three things which include probe of the military, NNPC case and the Malabu scandal.

Buhari was gathered to have accordingly directed the appropriate security agencies to reopen investigations into the Haliburton scandal and make appropriate recommendations. The U.S. Government was said to have made it clear that unless those involved were prosecuted, part of the bribe money, about $140 million, recovered and still in the US, would not be repatriated to Nigeria. “Following this development, President Buhari has directed the investigation committee made up of representatives of all security agencies to dust off the file and complete the investigations and charge those indicted to court.”

The case was investigated four years ago by a security panel headed by retired AIG Ahmadu Ali, who at the end charged a former personal aide to a former Head of State to court but the case was later struck out due to lack of diligent prosecution.

The Haliburton suit was said to be instituted in 2010 in court against former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Group Managing Directors, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Gaius Obaseki, Funso Kupolokun. Also, Abdulkadir Abacha, a brother of the late General Sani Abacha and 80 other prominent politicians were said to be listed as beneficiaries of the huge bribe money and nothing has been done to any of them. A former Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Dominic Bello; former federal Permanent Secretary and Intercellular boss, Ibrahim Aliyu; a former Secretary to the board of LNG, Mrs. Anthony, were also said to be indicted in the fraud.

The report disclosed that Mr. Jeffery Tesler, a Halliburton official, arrested in 2009 has since been jailed 21 months in the United States.  Tesler had listed top Nigerian officials who hugely benefitted from the bribes. He had confessed that he used Julius Berger as a conduit for the bribes.

Julius Berger deeply involved in the scandal was gathered to have paid $26. 5 million in a plea-bargain arrangement.
General Abubakar's share of the illicit bribe was said to be $37.5 million, which was allegedly transferred to him through accounts in the American Express Bank Annex at the Towers World Financial Centre, New York, the Seaway National Bank, Chicago, and the Bank of New York.

Abubakar was said to have operated several bank accounts that period which included A/C No 187765 Chips VID 250517 (in the name of Maizubi Holdings, Minna), A/C No 0074952045, Routing Number 071001216, Foundation Inc., A/C No 9800263826 Swift/Sort Code GHBAGRAA001 and A/C No 0039342923-21 Routing Number 052001533.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo's aide, Mr. Bodunde Adeyanju, was also said to have confessed to an investigating team that he collected the sum of $6 million from Chief Obaseki while he was lodging at TRANSCORP HILTON and handed the money over to Mallam Lawal Batagarawa, former Minister of State for Defence, who later handed same to PDP leaders. 

Former Air-Vice Marshal Abdul Dominic Bello was alleged to have distributed part of the bribe money, using accounts such as: Lloyds Bank of London, A/C No 736827, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, London, American Express Bank, A/C No 2101653, HSBC, A/C No 31505024, and Lloyds Bank, A/C No 0737041. All transactions were done using a company called Tri-Star.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan had approved a five-man inter-agency panel headed by the Inspector General of Police, including EFCC, SSS, and ICPC, to travel to France, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Spain to confirm the foreign leg of the investigations which mostly involved transfering of the funds, the amounts and the account holders. The team never brought back any response and none of those linked, indicted or mentioned in the financial crime have yet faced trial or jail term.

Many Nigerians have been waiting for the day a Nigerian leader will have the courage to fight corruption in the country without comprise or fear of intimidation.   Popular expectations on Buhari have been high in this regard considering what has been articulated as his antecedents.