Breaking

31/08/2016

$200m Halliburton Cash ‘blown On Presidential Helicopter’

by Yusuf Alli,
 
WHO PAID WHAT

•Julius Berger $35m
 
•Siemens Euros 30m
 
•Snamprogetti $30m
 
•Halliburton $32,500,000
 
•Japan Gasoline $26, 500,000
 
Detectives probing the whereabouts of the $200m
(N81.4billion) fines paid by five companies involved
in the $180million Halliburton bribery scam have
made a major discovery.

The cash was allegedly blown on the purchase of a
security helicopter for ex-President Goodluck
Jonathan, The Nation learnt yesterday.

A former Minister of Finance is under investigation
for releasing the cash to the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA), which was then headed by
the late Gen. Owoye Azazi.

According to sources, the EFCC spent months to
trace the $200million which was allegedly remitted
into a CBN account.

The breakdown of the remittances by the five
companies is as follows: Julius Berger ($35m);
Siemens (Euros 30m); Snamprogetti ($30m);
Halliburton Energy Services ($32,500,000) and
Japan Gasoline Corporation ($26, 500,000).

A source, who spoke in confidence with our
correspondent, said: “We have made substantial
progress in locating the remittance of the fines into
an account in the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) but
the cash was withdrawn under the guise of security
funding.

”One of the five suspects interrogated by our team
indicated that the cash was used to buy a
customised security helicopter for ex-President
Goodluck Jonathan. The suspect said the helicopter
is still in the presidential fleet.

“But it was not clear if the N81.4billion was spent
on the helicopter or part of it. We are trying to find
out the cost of the helicopter from the
manufacturer. Preliminary findings confirmed that
the helicopter could not have cost up to N1billion
to N2billion.”

About $12million(N3.960billion) was collected as
legal fees by five lawyers who the EFCC has
questioned. The lawyers are a former President of
the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA), J. B. Daudu
(SAN); Damian D. Dodo(SAN); Godwin Obla(SAN);
E.C. Ukala(SAN); and Roland Ewubare.

They defended the payment of legal fees as part of
the clause in the agreement for the recovery of the
$200million. They said it was akin to a similar
agreement on Pfizer drug test scandal in Kano State
where lawyers were paid professional fees for their
legal services.

Responding to a question, the source added: “So,
in essence, about N75billion was allegedly spent
on ‘questionable and strange’ security needs by
the administration of ex-President Jonathan.
”We also discovered that a former Minister of
Finance ordered the release of the fines to ONSA
for ‘strange’ security purposes, including the
customised helicopter.
 
The unnamed ex-Minister is to be questioned on
the withdrawal of the $200m fines, how it was
drawn, whether once or in tranches and the
breakdown of what it was used for.

“We will also demand records from ONSA if the
cash was actually remitted and the actual cost of
the security helicopter,” the source said.

The source, however, claimed that the EFCC
investigators might also look at whether or not the
fines were commensurate with the offence
committed.

They will also examine why Nigeria, the main victim
of the $180million Halliburton scam, got only
$200million fines.

“The U.S. government was paid about $1.5billion
fines by Halliburton, apart from the jailing of the
facilitator of the bribe, a UK lawyer, Mr. Jeffery
Tesler.

No Nigerian involved in the scandal has been
successfully tried by any court in the country.

Former EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu in February
2016 addressed a forum in Germany where he
expressed regrets that the Halliburton scandal was
frustrated.

He said: “A gang of foreigners stole from Nigeria”
from a $6 billion natural gas contract won by a
consortium of four international companies.

”I first got hint of the case in France. I got back
home and tried to investigate the case but it was
very difficult or probably impossible because the
companies were not there in Nigeria. They didn’t
have account there, the people were not there. They
had left.

“I rushed back to Paris. I was in Paris many times.
I put in a request letter but after a year of trying to
get French authorities to help us, the investigation
magistrate told me that they could not get anyone
to translate my letter from English to French. I knew
it was a hopeless case.”

Ribadu said after failing to get France, Italy and
Japan to help, he opted to go to the United States
even though Dick Cheney, the then US vice
president, was on the board of Halliburton.

“The Department of Justice in the United States
took up the case. They investigated and prosecuted
the case. They placed a fine of over $1.5 billion on
Halliburton.”

One of the counsel who negotiated the payment of
the $200million fines, Dodo(SAN) on February 11,
2016 wrote EFCC Acting chairman Ibrahim Magu on
the Settlement Agreement.

He insisted that all the five lawyers were transparent
in seeing through the agreement.

Dodo said: “In 2008, the U.S. Department of
Justice (DOJ) and the U.S Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) initiated a coordinated set of
criminal and civil actions against multinational
companies suspected of violating the U.S Foreign
Corrupt Practices ACT (FCPA)

“The basis of the criminal and civil actions lay in
illegal payments made to facilitate the award of
lucrative contracts outside of the U.S
“The action against Siemens AG and the TSKJ
consortium (The Halliburton Parties) had linkages to
illegal payments made in Nigeria.”

Ribadu said: “The Halliburton Parties were four
companies involved in the construction of LNG
Trains on Bonny Island, namely Technip (France),
Snamprogetti (Italy), Kellogg Brown and Root (US)
and the Japan Gas Corporation (Japan).

“Between 2008 and 2010, these companies
admitted wrongdoing and paid fines to the U.S
Government to settle the changes
“Upon assumption of office as Acting President in
2010, former President Goodluck Jonathan gave
instructions for the investigation of the entities
involved in the making and receipt of illegal
payments based on the request of the US
government in particular and the international
community in general.

“The then NSA (Gen. Aliyu Gusau) anchored the
investigation effort whilst the operational and
procedural initiatives were tasked to the office of
the Attorney General of the Federation (Mr.
Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN).

“The Attorney General reconstituted a strong and
diverse legal team led overall by the then President
of the Nigerian Bar Association, J.B Daudu, SAN,
which included Mr. E.C Ukala, SAN, Chief Godwin
Obla, SAN; Mr. Roland Ewubare and my humble
self.

“In my own case, I had been appointed since March
2009 by the then Attorney-General, Chief Michael K.
Aondoakaa, SAN. Copy of the letter of appointment
is attached herewith for ease of reference “Given the
urgency of the effort and the scope of work to be
done, an initial question arose as to the mechanics
of payment of legal fees to the lawyers instructed to
handle these cases.

“The then Attorney-General of the Federation (Mr.
Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN) indicated that he
had no budget for legal fees for the matters.
“After considerable discussions, it was agreed that
the fees and costs of counsel be paid by the
accused entities as part of any settlement package.

“Precedent for the above fee structure already
existed with instructions given by the previous
Attorney-General Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN to the lawyers
involved in the prosecution of the Pfizer criminal
defendants.

“In that instance, the fees of counsel were paid by
Pfizer Corporation as part of the settlement with
Kano State Government on one hand and the
Federal Government on the other.

“Upon agreement of the broad parameters and
payment mechanism, the legal team went to work.
“The first company to be investigated and
threatened with prosecution was Julius Berger who
were accused of acting as a conduit for the
transmission of an illegal payment of $5m. They
settled for $35 million (thirty five million US
dollars).

“The Halliburton companies were next. The process
was protracted and complicated and it resulted in
the filing of charges against former U.S Vice-
President Dick Cheney

“Eventually, the Halliburton companies settled.

“In total, over $200m (two hundred million US
dollars) was recovered for the FGN from the efforts
of the legal team. Some members of the team were
conferred with national honours for service to the
nation.

“In essence, an amount in excess of the $180m
total bribes paid in the Halliburton scandal was
recovered by the Legal Team.”

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