Arrest big men too – CACOL accuses EFCC of Siemens and Halliburton scandals

The Center for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has urged anti-corruption agencies to prosecute suspects in the Halliburton and Siemens corruption scandals.

President Debo Adeniran said authorities were taking too long in concluding high-profile cases.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced in 2016 the reopening of the investigation.

In a statement Wednesday, Adeniran lamented that six years later, the culprits have still not been prosecuted.

"No concrete action has been taken on this and there is no information on the path taken by the agency", he complained.

CACOL highlighted its quest for justice through petitions, including its demand that former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) be investigated for extortion presumed.

The statement reiterates Adeniran's position that the EFCC and others should look beyond Adoke in the $182 million Halliburton scandal.

He mentioned the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Daudu (SAN), Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), Godwin Obla (SAN), Damian Dodo (SAN) and Roland Ewubare.

"Everyone else involved in the Halliburton and Siemens scandal must pay for their crimes, no matter who they are.

"One thing that makes corruption thrive in the country is the culture of impunity enjoyed by many so-called 'Big-men' in Nigeria.

"Once a crime is committed and there is no thorough investigation or prosecution of the culprits, there is a tendency for others to commit the same crime to a greater extent. higher."

Adeniran noted that some of the Halliburton and Siemens corruption scandal cronies have been punished in their respective countries.

Activists have denounced the difficulty in Nigeria of prosecuting those involved, "because they are influential and somehow more powerful than the state".

CACOL has alerted that the Federal Government is ready for the start of the inauguration of the electrical equipment purchased under the Nigeria-Siemens power project.

The statement says it shows that the current administration is dealing with the same Siemens, one of the companies involved in the scandal, without prosecuting people.

In 2016, the EFCC uncovered how $32.5 million in fines of approximately $200 million imposed by Halliburton Energy Services were allegedly paid into a private account.

Some four former heads of state and 89 prominent Nigerians are believed to have been linked to the scandal.

At least 76 prominent Nigerians were named in the five notebooks submitted by the Halliburton Group to the EFCC.

A former oil resources minister reportedly admitted collecting money from a corrupt agent. About $2.5 million was paid into his Swiss account in 1998.

The Halliburton saga dates back to 1994 when the Nigerian government began construction of the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas project.

For Siemens, the US court that tried the company found that staff had paid approximately $1.4 billion in bribes in Nigeria, Russia and China for contracts that generated more $1.1 billion in profits.

In 2008, Eduard Seidel, who in the early 1990s had befriended powerful Nigerians, including presidents and vice-presidents, was tried in Germany for bribing foreign officials. He was sentenced.

Seidel resigned in 2005, a year before the Siemens scandal broke. On November 15, 2006, German authorities stormed the Munich headquarters, in one of Europe's biggest corruption cases.