There was outrage yesterday over the Federal Government’s decision to probe the $180million Halliburton bribe.
Lawyers led the condemnation of the government’s action, describing it as deceit.
The Action Congress (AC), the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) said the probe “is unnecessary and diversionary”.
On Wednesday, the government raised a five-man panel headed by Inspector-General of Police (IG) Mike Okiro to probe the bribery. The members are: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman, a representative of the National Security Adviser and Directors-General of the National Intelligence Agency and the State Security Service (SSS).
Addressing reporters in Abuja, president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) said the probe would serve no purpose.
Akeredolu said: “There is no need for further investigation. This government is not committed to fighting corruption, instead it is more at home to harbour corruption.
“The government of President Umar Yar’Adua feels comfortable in deceiving the people of this country and the Attorney-General of the Federation has made himself one of the most willing tools to be used in this process of deceit.”
He added: “The committee is another grand design to cover up and this will not take us anywhere. A matter has been tried, the Halliburton case is so simple, names have been mentioned let the public get to know them and you go ahead to prosecute them.”
Akeredolu urged Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice to ensure that all those involved in the bribery are unveiled since $150 million has been traced to a Swiss account.
He said: “We recommend that the same means through which Abacha’s loot was recovered by the previous administration should be employed to unmask the names behind the dedicated accounts in Zurich and wherever the money may have been lodged.
“This should not be difficult at all. We are shocked by the statement credited to the AGF that the government awaits the release of names from the American authorities. It is not necessary for any high-ranking government official to travel abroad to get the names that a witness had already revealed to the international public”.
Lamenting what he called the treatment of criminal suspects as kings, princes and princesses, Akeredolu said: “There have been probes involving highly-placed individuals and how they simply looted the country’s wealth.
“Our legislators seem pre-occupied with the battle for supremacy. Meanwhile, the whole nation watches in trepidation how her affairs are being run with deleterious impact. Major actors in this phenomenon, corruption, which is threatening the very existence of our dear country, are the ones firmly in control of her affairs. It has gotten to a point that even the government itself does not believe its own propaganda and empty slogans. The people no longer believe in empty sloganeering. Their sensibilities are constantly assailed by the appointments of characters that are mainly responsible for this present state of despondency.”
Criticising the AGF’s trip to the US to get the list of names of the Halliburton bribe takers, Akeredolu said: “We are justifiably apprehensive of the outcome of this latest diplomatic adventure considering how the AGF openly celebrated the “victory” of a person accused of money laundering, not on the fact that the case was decided on its own merit, but, disappointingly, because his office was by-passed before documents were released on this man to the British authorities.
“We sincerely hope that all those involved in the Halliburton scam will be named before long. This is the only way to convince the outside world that our efforts at “re-branding” the image of the country will not go the way of previous ill-conceived projects aimed at creating the impression that it is possible to build something on nothing. We must be ready to make examples of those who portray us as crooks in the eyes of the rest of the world.
“We have had enough of the histrionics continually displayed by government officials in their bid to impress the genuineness of their intention on us. We are living witnesses to the fact that virtually all those accused of official corruption are free men and women today. There appears to be a concerted effort on the part of a cabal not only to reduce the whole essence of our penal system to a tragic travesty, but more regrettably, these same people operate in the country, imbued with the confidence that they are above the law. We expect the AGF to display the same zeal exhibited in the celebrated money laundering case in the United Kingdom (UK) in unmasking these people.”
AC said the probe was another diversionary ploy to muddle ongoing investigations.
In a statement in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed, the party described the action as an expression of contempt for the EFCC, which by law is the organisation charged with the investigation of such a crime.
The statement reads in part: “Simply put, the action is tantamount to passing a vote of no confidence in the EFCC’s ability to successfully investigate the scandal, an action which – in our judgement – is totally unjustified.
“The nation has not been told that the EFCC is unable to carry out the investigations. The commission has not complained of lack of cooperation from the security agencies in the investigations. We are therefore at a loss as to the reason for the constitution of this committee.
“Perhaps, it is to punish the EFCC for working too hard to unravel the truth, an outcome that is out of sync with those bent on undermining the investigations, either by seeking the re-deployment of two key EFCC investigators or other subterfuge means. We are concerned that the setting up of a joint committee can only result in a bureaucratic bottleneck that will slow down the investigations, with those bent on sabotaging the probe hoping that Nigerians will eventually forget about it.’’
The party wondered why similar joint committees were not set up for the Siemens and Wilbros cases.
It vowed that AC and other civil society organisations and individuals would not allow the case to be swept under the carpet.
“The Halliburton scandal has further dented the image of our country and seemed to portray its people as bribe takers, even when only a few people were involved. This is why we are vehement in seeing that those who took the bribes from Halliburton are identified and prosecuted, no matter their status in the society,’’ AC said.
SERAP and CDHR said the probe was unwarranted because the case had been tried and people convicted.
In a statement by SERAP’s Executive Director Adetokunbo Mumuni and CDHR President Olasupo Ojo, the groups said: “Given that the Halliburton case has been successfully prosecuted in the US, and the US perpetrators have been effectively brought to justice, it should not take the establishment of a committee to get hold of the court papers and judgment, and on the basis of this, to immediately arrest and interrogate all the Nigerian suspects involved with a view to bringing them to justice.”
According to the groups, “Since it did not take the establishment of a committee for the government to trace $150 million of the $180 million involved to Swiss accounts, it should be very straightforward for the government to go back to the Swiss banks to get additional information on the details of the account-holders. Furthermore, since both Nigeria and the US are states parties to the United Nations (UN) Convention against Corruption, obtaining any information in this case should not be a lengthy and complicated process.”
The groups noted that “rather than helping to speedily resolve the matter, a bureaucratic committee can only contribute to delaying the process, and thereby delaying justice. This would continue to deny justice to millions of Nigerians that have been affected by the Halliburton bribe-for-contract deal.”
“Given conflicting and contradictory statements from the government on whether or not the names of the suspects are known-on the one hand the Minister of Justice said the names of suspects are unknown-on the other hand the EFCC said that it is interrogating suspects-the way forward is for the government to ensure a proper and transparent inquiry, by immediately releasing the names of the Nigerian suspects to the public. This will be in the interest of openness and honesty, which the government has consistently preached,” the groups added.
The groups went on: “Rather than engaging in diversionary tactics which can only continue to portray the government’s lack of political will to fight corruption, we urge President Yar’Adua to immediately ask the Minister of Justice to release to the Nigerian public names of suspects involved in the Halliburton scandal. The government should also immediately take up the offer of cooperation by the Swiss government, by making a request for the repatriation of the $150 million stashed in Swiss accounts. The government should put both the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to proper and effective use in this case.”
“The government would need to act quickly to demonstrate to Nigerians that it is truly committed to exercising sufficient political will and honest leadership to address the persistent problem of corruption in the country.”