SAN FRANCISCO, December 07, (THEWILL) – Erstwhile chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has revealed how he launched investigation into the infamous Halliburton bribery scandal wherein Nigerian government officials were bribed with over $184m over a period of 10 years.
This was as he expressed frustration over the investigation of the case under his tenure as EFCC Chairman and the failure of anyone to be prosecuted in Nigeria over the case, or of the country making monetary gain out of it, since the case cost Halliburton $1.5bn in fines in the United States.
A statement from Ribadu’s office yesterday in Abuja quoted him as disclosing this in a TEDx talk in Berlin, Germany, revealing that he actually started the investigation into the scandal which has now become a reference point in the global war on corruption.
Narrating his experience of the fight against corruption, Ribadu said the Halliburton scandal presented a unique corruption case study in which “a gang of foreigners stole from Nigeria” through the $6bn natural gas contract won by a consortium of four international companies.
According to him, “I first got a hint of the case in France. I got back home and tried to investigate the case but it was very difficult or probably impossible because the companies were not there in Nigeria; they didn’t have accounts there; the people were not there. They had left.
“I rushed back to Paris. I was in Paris many times. I put in a request letter but after a year of trying to get French authorities to help us, the investigation magistrate told me that they could not get anyone to translate my letter from English to French. I knew it was a hopeless case.”
Ribadu went on to state that after failing to get Italy and Japan to help, he opted to go to the United States even though the then U.S Vice President, Dick Cheney was on the board of Halliburton.
“The Department of Justice in the United States took up the case. They investigated and prosecuted the case. They placed a fine of over $1.5bn on the company, the biggest in the world for corporate corruption,” he stated.
Ribadu explained that in the cases EFCC referred to the U.S Department of Justice, including those of Siemens and Julius Berger, the US made over $3bn in fines.
“But the sad aspect is this; in my own country, where the criminal activity took place, not a single person was made to face justice, especially after I was asked to leave my position. Sadly, Nigeria did not make a dollar out of it,” he said.
Ribadu also recalled his experience in investigating the renowned 419 kingpin, Emmanuel Nwude, chief executives of banks and the former Delta State governor, James Ibori, who is now serving a jail term in the UK.
Despite of the challenges of fighting corruption in Nigeria, he expressed delight that Nigeria recovered more stolen money than any other country in the world and got many corrupt people convicted during his tenure.
Ribadu disclosed that the anti-graft agency, of which he was the pioneer chairman, was successful because “we built strong networks globally, especially with the UK and the US.”
He said the EFCC’s approach of working with other law enforcement jurisdictions to tackle trans-border crimes guided the UK in creating the Overseas Anti-corruption Unit. He urged other countries to follow that example.
According to the former presidential and governorship candidate, despite the challenges and the dangers inherent in the job of fighting corruption, “it’s a war worth fighting.”
“The world has to unite so that there will be no safe haven for stolen money and no hiding place for corrupt people,” he noted.
