Group Releases Documents For Probe Of Adoke

An anti-corruption group in Nigeria, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) on Thursday September 2 released documents indicting former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Adoke, in two bribery scandals involving $26 million.

The group had, for years, demanded for Adoke’s probe and subsequent prosecution following his alleged role in the Siemens and Halliburton bribery scandal that had shaken the world because of the high profile Nigerians said to be involved in the scandal.

Mohammed Adoke

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In the letter dated September 2, 2015 and addressed to Professor  Itse Sagay, the chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, with office at the new federal secretariat, Tower A, Abuja; CACOL urged the committee to do justice to its petition especially as it seemed the anti-graft agencies had not done much in that regard.

The group also attached previous petitions it had sent to former president, Goodluck Jonathan, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), as well as other public statements it had released on the issue.

A copy of the letter to Prof. Sagay is reproduced below:

CALL FOR INVESTIGATION OF $26MILLION USD BRIBERY ALLEGATION AGAINST FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE, MOHAMMED BELLO ADOKE IN THE SIEMENS, HALLIBURTON ETC BRIBERY SCANDAL SETTLEMENT DEALS.

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) is a group of civil-society, community-based and other non-governmental organizations with the objective of fighting corruption and corrupt persons by any means possible at all levels in Nigeria.

We would like to commend you for your modest achievements since you assumed office as the Chairman of the Presidential National Advisory Committee on anti-corruption.

CACOL is particularly happy that a few corrupt public officials, who hitherto see themselves as untouchable, would now not only be touched, but punished through the efforts of organisations like yours. We are sure more monumental achievements would be achieved by your committee.

Mr. Chairman, we write to draw your attention to many of our petitions against corrupt leaders that are gathering dusts in the anti-corruption agency offices, and are yet to receive the expected attention.

Whatever the situation is, the commissions have no excuse that is tenable to us and Nigerians, why our petitions on the above mentioned has not received attention till date. We hope you will take the necessary steps to ensure that the subject of our petition is probed for his suspected corrupt dealings, and corruption perpetrated under his watch.

Mr. Chairman, we urge you to ensure that this petition receives the Committee’s prompt attention. It is meant to draw your attention to the marching order handed down to the nation’s anti-graft agencies, especially the ICPC and the EFCC by President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR on Thursday July 14, 2011, during the swearing in ceremony of the last batch of nine Ministers at the Aso Chambers of the presidential villa, Abuja. As widely reported by the media the following day Friday July 15, 2011, the President was quoted to have said the following:

“There is no doubt that our rating in the Global Corruption Index is embarrassing. Corruption is therefore the monster that we need to confront and defeat, in order to raise the country’s integrity profile.  The war against corruption in this dispensation will start at the centre.

“The anti-corruption agencies have been directed to beam their searchlights on the ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government, and also focus on the states and local government areas, in order to send out a clear signal, that no form of abuse will be tolerated.

“We will carry out a comprehensive audit of all ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government beginning from June 2007. You must observe due process in all that you do. I expect you to be above board.”

You will agree that this is a clear cut directive devoid of pretension, and which must be implemented without fear or favour. In view of this, your committee is therefore called upon to; as a matter of urgency and national interest investigate the allegations that the then Hon. Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke coordinated a bribery scheme that extorted about $26 million USD from about 10 multinational companies involved in the Siemens and Halliburton bribery scandals in the last quarter of 2010.

This amount was believed to have been collected under the official cover of making the accused multinational companies pay the legal fees of prosecution counsels, even though the accused were never prosecuted in any court of the land to warrant such unethical secret levy.

While the EFCC, ICPC and the then attorney general have listed various sums of money totaling about $240million as funds recovered in fines and penalties from these multinational companies, no one has dared mention the $26million that was secretly extorted from these companies, and who the beneficiaries are.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

On November 22, 2010, Siemens reportedly reached a settlement agreement with the federal government under which Siemens will pay 7billion Nigerian Naira (approx. $46.5million) to the Nigerian Government, in exchange, for the EFCC dropping charges against Siemens AG, Siemens Nig Ltd and four of its officers.  The settlement payment was variously described as “restitution” and “disgorgement”.

In connection with the TSKJ / Bonny Island bribery matter, on November 25, 2010, it was reported that the EFCC arrested ten Halliburton employees in Nigeria during a raid of the offices of Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Limited in Lagos, as well as one employee each from Saipem Contracting Nigeria and Technip Offshore Nigeria.  On December 7, 2010, the EFCC reportedly filed corruption charges against Halliburton, former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (who was the CEO of Halliburton during the period at issue), Albert Stanley (former CEO of KBR), David Lesar (current CEO of Halliburton) and William Utt (current CEO of KBR).  Technip, Snamprogetti and JGC Corporation were reportedly also charged on the same day.  The case reference was Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Halliburton and others, CV/435/10, High Court of Justice, Abuja Judicial Division (Abuja).

OUR PRAYER

Some of the multinational companies alleged to have been forced to pay various sums as fines and bribes under the cover of paying for prosecution’s legal fees include Julius Berger, Snamprogetti, Halliburton, Technipp, Shell, Siemens, Saipem, Japanese Gas Corporation, Transocean and Noble Drill.

While we have been able to get information that Julius Berger alone coughed out $26million USD in fines and another $3million USD as bribe, we call upon your committee to investigate these cases as the ICPC and EFCC are the agencies that investigated these cases, and indeed filed charges against all the accused before they were withdrawn after some secret terms of settlement were forced on the multinational companies by the then Attorney General.

As a matter of urgency, we urge your committee to investigate how much each of the accused paid as “legal fees”, and how these monies were shared.

We also request you to establish through your investigation whether it is the practice for the accused in criminal cases to bear the cost of their own prosecution even though in these cases, no prosecution took place.

We urge you to also file appropriate charges against anyone found to have abused his office in this matter at the end of investigation.

Attached to this petition are copies of previous petitions written some anti-corruption agencies and copies of newspaper cuttings.

 

Yours in the crusade against corruption,

Debo Adeniran

Executive Chairman, CACOL

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