Halliburton Scam: FG, US to negotiate on how to recover stolen money

The federal government is already taking steps on how to recover the $130million Halliburton bribe cash traced to the facilitator account, Jeffrey Tesler. Though, the office of the Attorney-General of the federation which has been mandated to secure the money back may only yield 50 percent for the benefit of the country as both Nigeria and United States are on negotiation on the matter. Already, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on March 27 struck out a case filed against six Nigerian suspects who were allegedly involved in the scandal. It was not clear last night whether government will appeal the March 27 judgment of an Abuja High Court, which struck out the case against six Nigerians arraigned over the Halliburton scandal. “Daily Post” learnt that out of $180million involved in the Halliburton scandal, $133, 073,750million was remitted to Tri-Star, a firm managed by Jeffrey Tesler, the alleged mastermind of the bribery, by TSKJ between 15th December, 1995 and 12th June, 2004. Tesler is believed to have tricked Nigerian officials who were to share in the $180m by diverting $133,073,750million to his account in Switzerland. He gave about $22,417,000 and DRM 500,000 to some top government officials. Upon discovery of the $133,073,750m in Tesler’s account, the Swiss government froze the account and during the trial of the accused person, the looted fund was transferred to the United States. The erstwhile President, Olusegun Obasanjo had made a frantic efforts to recover the alleged stolen fund from Tesler. But, the present administration is making another move through negotiation with United States where the money is been kept to reach agreement on 50/50 percents shares by the two countries. A government source said: “We are determined to recover the money in Tesler’s account. The government, through the AGF and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), is expected to open negotiations with the US authorities. “As a matter of fact, the negotiation may be a 50-50 per cent deal because of issues surrounding the Halliburton scam. “The administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, which was desperate to recover the looted cash from Tesler, had offered a 50-50 per cent agreement, if the US assisted in retrieving the diverted sum. “What the Federal Government and the US will do in the next few weeks is to work out the details of the recovery.” Responding to a question, the source added: “That is how far the Federal Government can go because Halliburton violated many laws in the US, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. “So, there is no way Halliburton and Tesler will not pay fines to the US for various offences committed.” “According to the source, the planned negotiation with the US has underscored the commitment of the government to get to the root of the Halliburton scandal. “Do not forget that some firms implicated in the scam, like Julius Berger, have already paid hefty fines running into over N25billion,” he said, adding: “What is important is that public funds siphoned out of this country should be repatriated. The US is showing much understanding in this respect.” The $180million scandal involved the former Halliburton’s subsidiary, Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), in respect of the nation’s Liquefied Natural Gas plant in Bonny. Albert J. Stanley admitted before a Houston court in the US on September 4, 2008 that he orchestrated more than $180million in bribe to senior government officials. Stanley alleged that the bribe was channelled through Tesler in four installments of $60million; $32.5million; $51million and $23million. The bribe was allegedly facilitated between 1995 and 2005 in London. The countries in which the money was allegedly stashed by some top government officials and their accomplices are France, Britain, Switzerland, Portugal and Seychelles. Tesler, 63, was in February sentenced to 21 months in prison in the US after pleading guilty in March, last year to bribing Nigerian Government officials with $132 million between 1994 and 2004. He also forfeited $149 million to US authorities under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Those set free are a former Permanent Secretary, Ibrahim Aliyu, Mohammed Gidado Bakari and four companies. The four companies are Urban Shelter Ltd, Intercellular Nigeria Ltd, Sherwood Petroleum Ltd and Tri-Star Investment Ltd. The six accused persons stood trial for allegedly serving as conduits and receiving bribes in hard currency to facilitate natural gas contracts between 1994 and 2005. Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar said the prosecution failed to diligently prosecute the case. A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “There is no clear signal on whether an appeal will be filed or not. Neither the government nor the EFCC has made any commitment. “The EFCC has restated that it had nothing to do with the prosecution of the case. Also, the Ministry of Justice said it did not file the charges against the suspects. “I think the fact that some of the accused persons were involved in plea bargaining and paid fines had mitigated legal action against them.”