Halliburton agrees to pay $250m in fines in lieu of prosecution over alleged multimillion-dollar bribes
File photo of former US Vice President Cheney speaking in Washington Nigerian anti-corruption police said this month they planned to file charges against Dick Cheney. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/REUTERS
Nigeria's anti-corruption police have dropped charges against Dick Cheney, the former US vice-president, over a multi-million dollar bribery case after the energy firm Halliburton agreed to pay up to $250m (£161m) in fines.
The move followed the intervention of ex-president George Bush Sr and former secretary of state James Baker, according to Nigerian press reports.
The country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it met officials representing Cheney and Halliburton in London last week after filing 16-count charges relating to the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in the conflict-ridden Niger delta.
Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the EFCC, said: "There was a plea bargain on the part of the company to pay $250m as fines in lieu of prosecution."
The sum consists of $120m (£77m) in penalties and the repatriation of $130m (£83m) trapped in Switzerland, he added.
Babafemi said he expected Nigeria's attorney general Mohammed Adoke to ratify the decision . "I can tell you authoritatively that an agreement has been reached."
Several Nigerian newspapers added that Bush and Baker took part in negotiations through conference calls with Adoke and other officials, but Babafemi could not confirm this.
Houston-based engineering firm KBR, a former Halliburton unit, pleaded guilty last year to US charges that it paid $180m in bribes between 1994 and 2004 to Nigerian officials to secure $6bn in contracts for the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas project in the delta. KBR and Halliburton reached a $579m settlement in America but Nigeria, France and Switzerland have conducted their own investigations into the case....
U.S. Mopbsters vs African Mobsters deal made
Reply With Quote
