Siemens Bribery Scandal: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said it was investigating all suspects in the Siemens bribery scandal and assured that those found to be culpable would be prosecuted in Nigeria.
Spokesman of the agency, Mr. Osita Nwajah, told THISDAY last night that: “We are already involved in the matter. Investigation is still on-going. All those found to be culpable will be brought to justice in Nigeria,” he added.
A Munich court had named four past Nigerian ministers of communications � Messrs Cornelius Adebayo, Haruna Elewi, Tajudeen Olarenwaju and Bello Mohammed � as well as other officials, an immigration officer and Senator Jubril Aminu, Chairman Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, as having received bribes of about 10 million Euros from the German engineering conglomerate, Siemens AG.
But one of those named, Olarenwaju has denied involvement in the scam.
The former minister, who at the moment is away to the United Kingdom for medical check-up said in a statement last night that he was not a serving minister or a government official when he was said to have taken Euros 5,000 as bribe from the telecoms company.
According to him, “I was a minister of communications between 1994 and 1997, and the report said I took the bribe on August 8, 2002, that sounds ridiculous as I was out of office five years earlier and was not in government neither was I in a position to award or influence the award of contracts in that ministry.”
Another government official named in the scandal, Professor Jibril Aminu neither denied nor affirmed his culpability in the matter last night when THISDAY called him. Aminu, who is Chairman Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, was furious and hung up.
Reacting to the development, President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, said: “The time has come for government to seriously tackle the issue of corruption. This government should show more commitment to fight corruption. We are not seeing enough commitment, but all we have seen so far is enthusiasm on the government’s position on its zero tolerance for corruption.
“We have heard about the case of Nigerian government officials getting involved in Wilbros’ matter in far way United States. Nothing has come from the government on that yet. No doubt, the present government has a lot of goodwill. But it must act fast on corruption so that it will not lose credibility on this war against corruption.”
Agbakoba further said: “The position of the NBA on all this is that we want more action from the government against corruption. Move against those mentioned and get them arrested, but they must follow due process to fight the menace with intent.
“It seems the foreigners are more keen in fighting this war for us. As they are unearthing corruption abroad, the Nigerian government is not responding correspondingly. We are not doing anything. The anti-graft agencies should gear up and face the issue squarely,” he said.
In his reaction, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, told THISDAY that the issue calls for a thorough investigation on the part of the anti-graft agencies.
According to him: “The news of the bribery issue has gone to the whole world. The judicial pronouncement has further embarrassed the country in the eyes of the world. The government cannot afford to sweep this matter under the carpet. Moreso, the report did not mention the persons who collected about 2million Euros � that may involve the presidency.
“It calls for a public investigation of the deep involvement of the President Olusegun Obasanjo regime in a bribery allegation that has embarrassed the whole nation in the eyes of the international community.”
He warned that unlike the practice in the past, “This is not a political party affair, so it should not be treated as a family matter. The name of the country has again been mentioned in disrepute,” he added.
Another Lagos lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, said the development has again put to test the fight against corruption under the Obasanjo regime.
“It shows that the whole talk about war against corruption was a smokescreen, charade and ineffective.
“The crusade was targeted at some individuals and nothing more, because colossal scandal took place under Obasanjo’s regime. Most of those mentioned in this case were ministers and members of the executive.
“The judgement of the Munich Court can be admitted in Nigeria in legal proceedings � whether civil or criminal � because our laws allow for the admission of certified copies of such documents.
“The EFCC must act now to arrest and investigate all those involved and charge them to court for receiving gratification. Grafication is a crime under our anti-corruption laws,” he explained.
It would be recalled that in a court document obtained by the Wall Street Journal, the German multinational was indicted by the court for paying millions of Euros in bribes to cabinet ministers in Nigeria, Russia and Libya as it sought to win lucrative contracts for telecommunications equipment.
According to the court ruling that depicted a pattern of bribery by one manager, Mr Reinhard Seikaczek of Siemens, the scandal offers the most detailed picture to date of the scandal that has ensnared one of the world’s biggest conglomerates in investigations across the globe.
The Oct. 4 ruling, according to the Wall Street Journal, by a Munich court named four former Nigerian communications ministers as well as other officials in Nigeria, Libya and Russia as recipients of 77 bribes totaling about 12 million Euros, or about $17.5 million.
Siemens accepted responsibility for the misconduct and agreed to pay a 201 million Euro fine decreed by the court, but it has declined to identify those named as bribe givers and takers in the ruling’s text, which wasn’t disclosed.
Nov182007