By Kingsley Omonobi, Abuja
As President Muhammadu Buhari travels to the United
States (US) today to engage President Barack Obama in
talks on economic, security, financial and anti-graft issues,
it has emerged that he has ordered the preparation of the
case-file that would lead to the prosecution of the indicted
persons in the $182 million Halliburton bribery scandal.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that the President’s directive
followed the requirement by the US government of evidence
to show that Buhari was ready to prosecute the suspects in
Nigeria for their roles in the bribery scandal before it could
partner other European countries in releasing the
$141million dollars allegedly looted from Nigeria and
lodged in various overseas banks.
According to top security sources, Buhari, based on the
outcome of investigations by the panel set up to look into
the scandal, is scheduled to tell Americans officials during
this week’s visit that all those indicted, including former
Heads of State, a former Vice President, two former Group
Managing Directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, will face prosecution to defend themselves.
To further convince the US officials that the kangaroo trial
that took place during the Jonathan administration, which
saw a former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to the
President being arraigned and then let off the hook
following alleged connivance of certain government
institutions, will not re-occur, the President will tell them that
private legal practitioners, who cannot compromise because
of past government patronage, will be commissioned to
handle the case.
It will be recalled that the recent directive by Buhari to
reopen the Halliburton bribery case led to the discovery that
the $26.5 million plea bargain money released by the oil
servicing firm as part of efforts to shield the company from
prosecution was not in any government account.
No comments:
Post a Comment