Reopen Halliburton Case or we withdraw our support - US, EU threatens Buhari

 Reopen Halliburton Case or we withdraw our support - US, EU threatens Buhari

Ahead of General Muhammadu Buhari's planned visit to the United Kingdom, the United States (US) government and the European Union (EU) are threatening to withdraw support for his shambolic anti-corruption crusade should he fail to reopen the Halliburton bribery scandal.

The Halliburton bribery scandal dates back to 1994 when the Nigerian government launched an ambitious plans to build the Bonny Island Natural Liquefied Gas Project. The scandal had revealed a network of secretive banks and offshore tax havens used to funnel $182 million in bribes to Nigerian officials in exchange for $6 billion in engineering and construction work for an international consortium of companies that included a then Halliburton subsidiary. 

Our correspondent’s investigations revealed that the US and the EU have declared that the Nigerian government has enough information at its disposal to prosecute the case and bring the perpetrators to book.

In 2010, the then US Ambassador to Nigeria Robin Sanders, presented documents and evidence needed by the Nigerian authorities to prosecute culprits in the $180million Halliburton scandal but sadly nothing has been done to bring those involved to justice.

Robin Sanders in a statement then said “the Nigerian government and ministers have…enough information to act on their own as there are other countries that are involved and they have the same degree of access to those countries as we do. We know that that information has been with the Nigerian government for quiet sometime and with the previous ministers that have held that ministerial position. So that information is there and is there for you to act on as your laws and your country deems fit.”

A senior diplomatic source told our correspondent in an interview that US and Eu are showing unwillingness to further support the Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade if he fails to reopen the Halliburton case and punish those indicted by the investigative report.

The source said “What is making the US and the EU angry with the Nigerian government is the fact that those indicted in the case in the US and Europe have all been punished and they are surprise that the Nigerian government is shielding those indicted, who are Nigerians”.

The source who spoke to our correspondent, on the condition of anonymity said unless the President Buhari’s administration show seriousness with the Halliburton case, “there is no way that the US and European governments will take his anti-corruption case very seriously. People who committed the fraud must be punished”.

“If those indicted in the Halliburton case are not tried and jailed, the Buhari’s anti-corruption fight would been seen as selective, designed to hunt the opposition. He must look into the Halliburton case and reopen the case so that those fingered in the case are punished. Anything short of this will be unacceptable to the international community,” the diplomat said.

Names on the list include four former heads of states, two first ladies, military and intelligence chiefs, former ministers, business moguls and well as a host of other influential Nigerians.

-Frontiersnews