$180m Halliburton scandal: FG orders re-arrest of principal suspects

Indications emerged in Abuja on Tuesday that the Presidency has issued a directive to the Police to re-arrest the major suspects of the $180million Halliburton bribery scandal. The instruction received from the presidency according to source is to ensure that the principal suspects are arrested and prosecuted as soon as possible.

DailyPost has learnt that the renewed action of the Federal Government is based on the condition given by the United States, which holds that unless the culprits are arrested and prosecuted, the $130million presently in the US government’s account cannot be returned to Nigeria as earlier promised.

Working on this latest instruction from the Presidency, the Inspector General of Police has ordered the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Force Criminal Investigations Department to swing into action and look into the investigative report of the CP Ali Amodu-led panel that investigated the matter two years ago.

Going by this new development, principal suspects including  the former Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Dominic Bello; former federal Permanent Secretary and Intercellular boss, Ibrahim Aliyu; former GMD of NNPC, Gaius Obaseki; former Special Assistant to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Domestic Affairs, Mr. Bodunde Adeyanju and a former Secretary to the board of LNG, will be re-arrested for questioning for  possible trail.

A source has also revealed that the US authority has equally demanded that the whereabouts of the $26. 5million returned to the government by Julius Berger must be ascertained and the money be returned to the police with an immediate effect. It has been learnt that until this very moment, nobody in the government seems to know the whereabouts of the said money.

Recall that in 2010, Julius Berger had returned $26. 5million on a plea bargain to the Federal government, but up till now, nobody knows where the money is. Julius Berger was clearly involved in the bribery scandal but tried to bail itself out on a plea bargain.

Source:  The Citizen