This is getting weird. It seems the U.S. is not buying the story EFCC is selling the world that OBJ had no knowledge of the Haliburton bribes, even with his personal aide neck deep in it. How could the PA be distributing money willy-nilly to PDP operatives without OBJ's say-so? Was he trying to take over the party from OBJ?  . It boggles the mind. OBJ is in serious trouble as a repeat offender. Remember when Chris Uba was the one who got hanged for OBJ carrying $45K on a presidential jet undeclared into the U.S. - the story then was they were going to buy tractors (as a reward they tried to make him governor of Anambra  ). Now Mr. Bodunde is being hung for OBJ & PDP corruption as well. EFCC is retaliating hard. I am waiting for the U.S. comeback. This is going to be good - those that reside in glass houses should remember not to throw "weighty" stones. Obama and his government can afford to throw Cheney under the bus. The question is, can GEJ afford to throw OBJ under the bus - with sprinkles of Atiku and other freeloaders on top. In any case, it seems that by Apirl 2011 there will be 1001 ways for PDP to lose the election. By Dionne Searcey
When lashing out at the Justice Department’s crackdown on bribery, some critics say the agency fails to mind its own beeswax.
In applying the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Justice has repeatedly targeted foreign-based companies and non-U.S. citizens for overseas bribery charges with the justification that they are fair game because the companies trade on U.S. exchanges. The critics say DOJ should stick to its home constituency and focus on U.S. companies.
Now, Nigeria is following suit. The nation’s anti-corruption agency says it will charge Dick Cheney in connection to a $180 million bribery case tied to a one-time subsidiary of Halliburton. Besides being the former vice president, Cheney once ran Halliburton, heading it up during part of the time the alleged bribery occurred.
This Financial Times report says in this story that the threat of charges against Cheney comes after the detention of 10 Halliburton staff by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Halliburton’s country chief was also summoned, the FT said.
Last year Halliburton and KBR, the former unit which was split in 2007, paid a record $579 million fine after pleading guilty to charges that KBR had spent $180 million in bribes between 1994 and 2004 to win contracts.
“We are filing charges against Cheney,” an EFCC spokesman told the Reuters news agency. The spokesman did not give further details and did not respond to the FT’s requests for comment.
Halliburton did not immediately return a request for comment from the LawBlog, and Cheney could not immediately be reached. KBR declined comment on the possible Cheney charges.
Nigeria is well known by groups that monitor bribery to be one of the world’s most corrupt places to do business. With its vast oil reserves, Nigeria has played host to a number of oil and oil services companies who have been caught in the DOJ’s crosshairs over allegations of shady payments to government officials there.
Halliburton has called the detention of its staff “an affront to justice,” the FT said.
It’s worth noting that in the same case, DOJ has extended its reach overseas to charge two British citizens with bribery, Wojciech Chodan and Jeffery Tesler, both of whom have been fighting extradition. The two could not immediately be reached for comment.
The FCPA blog reports that Chodan, indicted in February 2009 by a federal grand jury in Houston, is being sent by the U.K. to our shores, “within the next 10 days to stand trial over his alleged role in a huge international bribery scandal,” according to a story in the Guardian. Tesler lost his extradition hearing in March.
The FCPA blog says they were charged in the U.S. with one count of conspiracy to violate and ten counts of violating the FCPA. They face up to 55 years in prison if convicted on all counts. The indictment also seeks forfeiture from them of more than $132 million, the amount of the bribes U.S. prosecutors claim they arranged to pay on behalf of KBR and its partners to Nigerian officials.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/12/03/is-nigeria-is-giving-the-us-a-taste-of-its-own-medicine/In his own two-page statement dated 30/06/09, former Minister of Integration and Cooperation, Alhaji Lawal Tukur Batagarawa, said he might have collected monies from Bodunde between 15 to 20 times, totalling about N30 million and not in dollars, adding that on one or two occasions, he asked his orderly, Wilson Osuagwu, or his Chief Detail, Usman Danlami, to go and collect the money.
Commenting on the source of the money, Batagarawa said all he knew was what Bodunde told him that Mr. Gaius Obaseki would talk to some friends to help the party, saying, however, that; “who these friends are or what interest they represent, I do not know. As such, to the best of my knowledge, the source of these funds I do not know.”
In his own statement to the Police, former Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Gaius Obaseki said he did not know what amount Mr. Adeyanju Bodunde ever collected from Mr. George of Julius Berger neither did he ever acknowledge receipt of such monies.
Mr. Bodunde is being charged with accepting cash payment of one million US dollars from Mr. George Mark between 2002 and 2003, contrary to section 1 and 15 [d] of the Money Laundering Act, 2004 which is punishable under section 15 [2] [b] of the Money Laundering Act, 2004.
The personal assistant to former President Obasanjo is also accused of accepting cash payment of N140 million from Mr. George Mark of Julius Berger Nigeria Limited thereby committed an offence contrary to Section1 and 15 [d] of the Money Laundering Act, 2004, which is punishable under Section 15 [2] [b] of the Money Laundering Act, 2004 in addition to another $500,000 US dollars from Mr. Hans George Christ between 2002 and 2003 thus committed an offence contrary to section1 and 15 [d] of the Money Laundering Act, 2004 also punishable under Section 15 [2] [b] of the Money Laundering Act, 2004.
The Federal Government had earlier withdrew charges against Julius Berger Plc over alleged complicity in the $ 180 million Halliburton bribery scandal based on a mutual agreement between the two parties even as the government seeks to file a civil action against Halliburton Corporation of the United States towards getting compensation and restitution.
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