Three weeks ago in this column I wrote about the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raid on the offices of Halliburton in Lagos and the arrest of company officials. The arrests were made in relation to the alleged payment by Kellogg Brown & Root Inc., (KBR), a Halliburton subsidiary until 2007, of $180 million in bribes to senior Nigerian government officials between 1994 and 2004 in an effort to secure $6 billion in contracts for the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
In the U.S. KBR and Halliburton pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in relation to the bribe paying and agreed to pay $177 million to settle charges from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and a further $402 million to settle criminal charges brought by the US Justice Department.
Former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney was Chairman of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, which put him at the helm when the corruption was in full swing.
Mr. Emmanuel Akomaye, speaking on behalf of the EFCC, said the EFCC has concluded through its investigations that Mr. Cheney was aware of the massive corruption perpetrated by Halliburton in Nigeria and would be charged in relation to supervising the distribution of bribes to Nigerian officials in his capacity as the chairman of Halliburton.
On 13 December 2010 the EFCC subsequently filed 16 charges against Cheney and eight other persons.
Last weekend Nigerian authorities enjoyed a “fruitful” weekend in London negotiating the price of corruption with Cheney’s representatives. There are reports of around $250 million offered to clear the charges.
This is not justice. This is a business deal. The big boys get caught; they negotiate a price and walk away to continue their activities elsewhere.
Everyone is smiling. The poor man in Nigeria has no means to negotiate and simply goes to gaol for a very long time often for a petty crime.
Cheney’s spokesman has called the Nigerian charges “entirely baseless” but seems happy to negotiate a settlement.
Through the pursuit of charges against Cheney while neglecting to prosecute the Nigerians involved the EFCC is sending a message to the international community “We will not tolerate paying bribes …. but we will not pursue bribe-takers”.
But there is some hope that the EFCC may get beyond Chairman Farida Waziri’s grandstanding. On 13 December 2010, the same day that the EFCC filed 16 charges against Cheney, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde returned to the EFCC to replace Mr. Steven Otitoju as Director of Operations. Mr Lamorde comes with a considerable reputation for running investigative operations having previously served as Director of Operations under Nuhu Ribadu and held the position of Acting Chairman EFCC at various times.
Speaking in May 2009 about the responsibilities of the Director of Operations, Chairman Waziri said, “The job is a challenging assignment because the officer has to carry out investigations and liaise with the boys in the field as well as put together reports of investigations.” Chairman Waziri is correct in her assessment of the responsibilities of the Director of Operations who oversees investigations and the compilation of reports. The political playing is done by Chairman Waziri deciding which reports to act on and pursue to prosecution. And therein lies the potential for mischief.
Reports recently released by Wikileaks indicates Pfizer dug up damaging information on corruption linked to former Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice Michael Aondoakaa and leaked the information to media resulting in a series of damaging articles about Aondoakaa. This was part of Pfizer’s strategy to pressure the Federal Attorney General into dropping the $6 billion legal action against the company over the death of 11 Nigerian children in unauthorised drug trials in a Nigerian hospital. Pfizer settled the case for a mere $75 million in 2009 while Aondoakaa was Attorney General. Some would say this is a good outcome for a company with 2009 revenues of $50 billion and an increase of seven percent on 2008 net income.
If Pfizer could find damaging information on Nigeria’s Attorney General sufficient to have him drop a legal case against Pfizer for fear of the further release of the information to the media, why could the EFCC have not uncovered the same information?
The EFCC has been forced to pursue Aondoakaa because of the media leaks instigated by Pfizer but questions remain as to why Chairman Waziri allowed the case to be settled for $75 million rather than pursue the prosecution of Pfizer? Prosecution of Aondoakaa would likely produce some damaging revelations about various parties and there will be a lot of pressure not to pursue the case.
On the other hand if there is a successful prosecution can we expect a slap on the wrists for Aondoakaa or maybe his spokesman will negotiate a payment to settle the charges as Pfizer did and Dick Cheney seems to be doing?
The EFCC under Waziri is looking more like a finance broker than a crimes commission. Maybe the appointment of Lamorde can help put the “C” for “Crimes” back in the EFCC.
Canon Dr Stephen Davis is Canon Emeritus at Coventry Cathedral and has served as an advisor to President Obasanjo, Presidential Envoy under President Yar’Adua and is the author of The Report on the Potential for Peace and Reconciliation in the Niger Delta.