Britain's probe means Nigeria must act soon

Efforts by the British government to prosecute one of its nationals involved in the multi-million dollar Nigerian bribery case involving KBR, a unit of Halliburton, got a boost Monday when a Swiss court ordered the handover of details of bank accounts involved in the deal to British authorities.

Switzerland's Federal Criminal Tribunal said an appeal by an unnamed British citizen, who was suspected of being central to the money laundering and corruption probe, is baseless.

The Swiss government said it will now act speedily on the request by Britain's Serious Fraud Office. The ruling said BSO had asked for Swiss legal assistance three years ago, while investigating a consortium of French, Italian, Japanese and US firms.

These are: TSKJ, a private limited liability company registered in Portugal comprising Technip of France; Snamprogetti Netherlands, an affiliate of the Italian group ENI; JGC Corporation of Japan; and KBR.

The case is against an unnamed British lawyer suspected of having paid bribes of $133.5 million (SFr153.5 million), between 1995 and 2004, to Nigerian officials on behalf of a consortium of firms for a contract worth $6 billion.

Nigerian government denials

The Nigerian government still claims it does not know the identity of the Nigerians involved in the fraud. Several Nigerian newspapers on Monday published a letter sent by Nigeria's Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa, to his US counterpart asking for the names of the affected Nigerian officials.

Mr. Aondoakaa said the Nigerian government was ready to prosecute the Nigerians once it has their names. The Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives have also written to the US Department of Justice, asking for the same list.

But NEXT, in its most recent Sunday edition, listed a number of the officials, including three former heads of state: Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdusalami Abubakar, and the late Sani Abacha.

"Our law enforcement authorities, notably Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa, have lately been making noises but have in reality done little to pursue those indicted in this scandal, which reveals us as a nation that fully justifies its reputation as one of the world's leading cesspits for corruption and unrestrained graft," NEXT wrote about the Nigerian response to the prosecution of those involved in the graft case by other countries.

The Swiss documents are similar to those already given to France and the United States in the case, which stems back to events in the 1990s involving bribes allegedly paid for contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities in Nigeria.

A British lawyer, Jeffery Tessler, has been identified as the go-between in the bribery scheme. The companies are said to have commissioned him to use his influence with Nigerian officials to secure contracts for the gas pipeline complex between 1995 and 2004.

Web of graft

The ruling by the Swiss Federal Criminal Tribunal rejected appeals from Mr. Tessler and a number of firms in Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, Panama and the Bahamas that tried to block the release of the documents.

Court documents allege that he was paid about $60 million through banks in Monaco and Switzerland. Maurice Harari, the British defendant's legal counsel, told the Swiss news agency, ATS, that he would not make a final appeal against the ruling.

In February, a former Halliburton subsidiary - Kellogg, Brown & Root - pleaded guilty to bribery charges in Houston, Texas, and agreed to pay fines of more than $400 million. KBR, a major engineering and construction services company, was split in 2007 from Halliburton, the oil services company led by Dick Cheney before his two terms as US vice president.