Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke
The Federal Government on Wednesday said that it had recovered $170.8m penal fines from multinational companies indicted in the infamous $180m Halliburton bribery scandal.
The Federal Government added that it was targetting a total of about $255m from the fines being paid by the firms in order to avoid judicial prosecution.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN), disclosed this at a media briefing on his ministry’s scorecard for the year.
The minister also claimed that the government had obtained files on the extra-judicial killings allegedly perpetrated by the police during the Boko Haram crisis in the North with a view to ensuring the early prosecution of culprits.
He said, “We commenced the prosecution of individuals and multinational companies indicted in the infamous Halliburton bribery scandal. As a result of government’s resolve to prosecute those indicted, Messrs Julius Berger, Siemens Plc, Saipem, Technip, and Halliburton Inc. were charged to court.
“To avert prosecution, these companies approached us with various settlement options for consideration. In resolving these cases, the Ministry took due cognisance of the weakness of our penal provisions dealing with corporate criminal liability, as well as the need to ensure their early resolution in the greater national interest.
“The Ministry therefore adopted international best practices as has been practised in other jurisdictions such as United States of America by emphasising on ‘restitution’ that would ensure direct benefit to the Nigerian government as the ‘victim state.’
“As a result of the adoption of this practice to the aforementioned cases, the affected companies and individuals were made to disgorge the proceeds of crime and to pay appropriate penal fines. Accordingly, a total sum of $170.8m has been paid as penal fines to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
The AGF, who also made some clarifications concerning the monies, said Halliburton alone paid $35m out of the other component firms while the other three multinational companies paid $95m.
According to him, the money involved in the Halliburton scam was $180m while $21m was “actually the amount disbursed” and not $18m.
“$130m of this amount was held in Monaco and Geneva banks; we will go after the recovery of these monies and a total $255m would have been recovered from these companies.”
The AGF announced that, as a long-term measure, he had directed the commencement of the review of the nation’s penal provisions with a view to amending Nigeria’s extant laws to properly address the reality of corporate criminality by providing appropriate sanctions to ensure deterrence.
Speaking on the Boko Haram crisis in some northern states and the uprising in Jos, Plateau State, Adoke said the government would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that suspects were prosecuted.
“A total of 70 cases are being prosecuted at the Federal High Court, Jos. The Ministry has also obtained the files on the alleged extra-judicial killings involving some police officers during the Boko Haram crisis and we are presently consulting with the Borno State Ministry of Justice with a view to ensuring early prosecution of the suspects,” the minister said.
Source:Punch
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