We are seriously concerned about the continuing delay and failure of the Nigerian authorities to exercise the necessary political will to facilitate the interrogation and effective prosecution by anti-corruption agencies of the already known Nigerian suspects and companies operating in Nigeria that are involved in the Halliburton $180 million bribe.
We note that the $180 million bribe saga is in connection with four contracts for engineering, procurement and construction of Bonny Island Liquefied Natural Gas terminal worth over $6bn secured by Kellog Brown. The US government has arraigned the Americans involved in the case. Halliburton has also recently agreed to pay $559 million to settle federal charges for its employees' bribing of officials in Nigeria.
We are further concerned that despite widely circulated public reports of the names of the Nigerian suspects and companies operating in Nigeria that are involved in the Halliburton bribe, the suspects remain free and have not been interrogated let alone prosecuted.
We are also concerned that this matter has been delayed for too long.
WE therefore call on the EFCC, ICPC and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to urgently work together to ensure the invitation, interrogation and effective prosecution of named Nigerian suspects and foreign companies operating in Nigeria that are suspected to be involved in the Halliburton bribe.
We believe that the invitation, interrogation and prosecution of the named Nigerian suspects and companies should not suffer further delay, especially given that the facts have been well established in US court papers and the US officials and company involved have been effectively brought to justice.
We also believe that any further delay is justice delayed, which will continue to deny justice to millions of Nigerians who are the ultimate victims of the massive corruption involved in the Halliburton bribe.
We believe that our request is entirely consistent with the EFCC Act, and Nigerias international obligations, especially under the UN Convention against Corruption, which requires the country to take proactive steps to investigate allegations of corruption such as the present one; prosecute suspected perpetrators and fully recover money which is the subject of corruption.
We believe that waiting endlessly for all the names of suspects and not proceeding against the already known names will be incompatible with the letter and spirit of the EFCC Act and the UN Convention.
WE further call on the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the EFCC, and the ICPC to:
Work together to ensure that all the names of Nigerian officials and companies, and foreign companies operating in Nigeria suspected to be involved in the Halliburton bribe are promptly identified, and that they are interrogated and effectively prosecuted
Ensure full recovery of any money that is the subject of corruption, and publicly declare the amount recovered
Monitor closely the spending of the recovered stolen money