Tag Archives: Halliburton

Halliburton: I Don’t Know How $32.5m Escrow Account Was Opened – Adoke

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A former Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), yesterday said he knew nothing about how an Escrow Account was opened and $32.5 million fines from Halliburton Energy Services paid into it.

He said he was not briefed about the existent of any Escrow Account at any time by a member of the legal team of the Federal Government, Mr. Roland Ewubare, who was National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) former Executive Secretary.

He explained that the team was constituted to initiate criminal proceedings against the five companies involved in the Halliburton bribe scandal.

The five firms, which later settled for the plea bargain, were: Julius Berger ($35m); Siemens (Euros 30m); Snamprogetti ($30m); Halliburton Energy Services ($32,500,000) and Japan Gasoline Corporation ($26, 500,000).

Adoke, who spoke exclusively with The Nation on the telephone, said he did his best for the nation

He said: “On the assumption of office in 2010, I was approached by the then chairperson of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, that she has a request from some American lawyers to sue, on behalf of Nigeria, Halliburton and associated companies involved in the $180 million bribe scandal.

“She came with the lawyers to see me and when I read the terms of their demand. I declined to engage them and rather opted to set up a team of lawyers to initiate criminal proceedings against the companies against the backdrop of our previous experience in the Pfizer case.

“The lawyers introduced by the EFCC wanted to be entitled to 33 1\3 of whatever was recovered, which I felt was outrageous and also wanted us to cede the control of the case to them.

“I asked the EFCC to nominate a lawyer into the team and Godwin Obla (SAN) was nominated while Emmanuel Akomoye, the then secretary of the commission was co-opted to assist the team.

“In the course of the prosecution, there was a need to enter into plea bargain due to National Security concerns and Kayode Are, the Deputy NSA, was directed by the then NSA, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, to lead the negotiations.

“After the negotiations and agreement were signed, the OAGF was requested to furnish the federal accounts in which the fines were to be paid. And that was the sequence all the other negotiations followed.

“I was not aware of the opening of the Escrow Account in the USA nor was I informed and I didn’t know of the existence of any such account before now. I, therefore, have no explanation to offer than I had previously offered on record.

“The EFCC should, therefore, spare me the ordeal of trying at all cost to bring me down for I am beyond blemish in this or any other transaction while in office.”

He challenged any lawyer that had ever given him a bribe to come out and say so, adding that as AGF, he was very careful.

The reaction of the ex-Minister followed indications that EFCC was looking into the roles played by two former National Security Advisers, Gen. Aliyu Gusau and the late Owoye Azazi, and two former Attorneys-General of the Federation on the facilitation of $200million Settlement Agreement with Halliburton and four others.

The past AGFs are Mr. Mike Aondoakaa (SAN) and Adoke (SAN), who have claimed that they never benefitted from the agreement in any manner whatsoever.

The anti-graft agency has however retrieved a copy of the agreement signed with a U.S. law firm, Madison Avenue Legal Resources LLP from the Federal Ministry of Justice and Aondoakaa, who initiated the pact.

It was also learned that the EFCC has traced the Escrow Account to Madison Escrow Services LLC (the “Escrow Agent”) at the instance of Ewubare, who went to the United States to get the document.

About $32.5million (N13, 585,000, 000) out of about $200million fines from Halliburton Energy Services was allegedly paid into the Escrow Account.

Ewubare was said to have submitted a document to the anti-graft agency, showing how the Escrow agent was engaged by the FGN, through the Office of the National Security Adviser, to save the nation about $540million from garnishee judgments.

The document showed that the total compensation received by the Escrow Agent for its services was $2.5million.

But the EFCC is probing why the N13.5 billion was not remitted into the Federation Account in accordance with extant laws.

Those interrogated by the EFCC on the matter are a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, J.B Daudu (SAN), Mr. E.C Ukala (SAN), Obla (SAN), D.D. Dodo (SAN) and Ewubare.

Halliburton, Siemens’ Cases Not Closed —FG

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The Federal Government has said that it had not closed any criminal case being investigated in the country, technically raising the potential for some prominent Nigerians implicated in the legendary Siemens and Halliburton scandals to face trial.

 

 

The Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, who made the disclosure in an interview with Vanguard in Abuja, also dismissed as untenable the notion that President Muhammadu Buhari was afraid of taking the Halliburton and Siemens cases because the key suspects were top military leaders.

 

 

Malami was responding to enquiries about the claim that Buhari’s administration had jettisoned the probe into the Halliburton and Siemens corruption scandals, in which Nigeria lost billions of Naira to high-ranking Nigerians who held sway at the time.

 

 

Media reports yet to be dispelled by the administration had claimed that the government was afraid to confront the powerful beneficiaries of the scam which had landed other suspects in the United States, Germany and others in jail.

 

 

Nigeria is said to have lost over $182 million to the Halliburton corruption case alone.

 

Malami said Buhari was not a man who could be restrained by fear from doing what was right and in the overall best interest of Nigerians he had sworn to defend and protect from harm’s way.

 

 

The minister said those who had jumped to the erroneous conclusion that the major corruption scandals had been swept under the carpet should note that the present administration had zero tolerance for corruption and would, therefore, not close any criminal case.

 

 

Extraneous influences
Malami, however, said in tackling the corruption cases, the Federal Government would not be assuaged by what he called ‘extraneous influences’ or action by available prima facie evidence.

 

 

Malami said: “The idea of fear does not come in at all as far as this President is concerned in the fight against graft. Don’t forget that whatever Mr. President does is guided by the rule of law and available evidence.

 

 

“It must be noted, however, that no extraneous influence can influence our actions as we move to fight corruption in all its ramifications. To be noted also is the clear fact that no criminal case can be closed once the facts are handy regardless of who is involved.”

 

 

Buhari has come under criticism for not taking up the two major corruption scandals that predated the Jonathan era. The verbal attack arose out of the decision of Buhari’s administration to limit its probe of corrupt officials to the Jonathan administration.

 

 

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, it will be a distraction for the President to begin digging into all former administrations.

 

 

Adesina said: “But for a proper take off of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, there is need to look into the immediate past government (Jonathan’s). We are interested in investigating Jonathan’s government to recover stolen funds.”

 

 

Credit : Vanguard