The federal government at the weekend filed two different sets of charges in two courts in Abuja, against some men alleged to have been implicated in the Halliburton bribery scandal.
This may well put an end to speculations that the federal government may just never bring those involved to book.
“There are two sets of charges filed. One set was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, while the other was filed at the FCT High Court,” a top government official told NEXT at the weekend.
Both charges were filed on Friday afternoon.
Investigations by United States law enforcement agencies had listed past Heads of State, including the late Sani Abacha, Abdulsalami Abubakar and Olusegun Obasanjo, amongst those involved in the scandal.
The charges filed at the federal high court have numbers FHC/ABJ/CR/146/2010, FRN vs Bodunde Adeyanju amongst others include: BillFinger Berger GMBH, Julius Berger etc.
The second batch, filed at the FCT High Court, is filed with charge number FCTHC/CR/95/10, FRN vs Henrich Stockhausen amongst others.
The other names include: Ibrahim Aliyu, AVM A.D Bello, Mohammed Gidado Bakare, Urban Shelters ltd, Intercellular Nig Ltd, SheerWood Petroleum Ltd, Tri Star investment Ltd, Tecnik SA, BV and Kellog Brown and Root.
Determined to prosecute
This is following a promise made by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, who told NEXT in an interview that the government was determined to prosecute all those involved.
“This is an expression of bravery on the part of the AGF, making the move to prosecute that calibre of people, what his predecessors could not do. He should be commended and encouraged to do more,” our source said, hailing the actions of the AGF.
This may be a mile stone in Goodluck Jonathan’s fight against corruption, as this may sound out that no man is above the law.
Meanwhile, the federal goverment has also made moves to put some of its best hands to handle the case.
“They are top prosecutors selected: JB Daudu SAN, Emmanuel Ukala SAN and Godwin Obla,” our source said.