Police intelligence officers at the Force Headquarters, Loius Edet House, in Abuja say they have been "definitely contacted" by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for co-operation to launch a joint investigation into the alleged corruption case involving Nigerian officials and the Australian government owned company, Securency International Pty Ltd, sources have confirmed to NEXT.
The alleged bribe, estimated to be well over N750 million, occurred under the watch of Chukwuma Soludo as governor of the Central bank of Nigeria, CBN. Mr. Soludo who now seeks to become governor of Anambra state, got a nudge last weekend when the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it has settled on the former CBN Governor, and Emma Anosike, a senator, as the party's governorship candidate and running mate, respectively, for next year's governor election. The party said Mr. Soludo emerged as "a consensus candidate" following legal and political wranglings that could have cost the party presenting a candidate for the election.
The investigation, according to Nigerian Police sources, will follow a dual track, each relating to the interest of the different countries. "The Nigerian track most certainly will centre on which Nigerian officials played a role or took a share of the bribe money from the Australian polymer company, Securency, to secure the contract to supply the polymer notes to the Nigerian government," our sources said in Abuja at the weekend.
Investigation pending
Nevertheless, it was not clear which law enforcement agency will ultimately take the lead in this case between the police or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which has direct remit on matters like this.
The police's spokesperson, Emeka Ojukwu, and the EFCC's spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, were travelling out of the country last week and could not clarify the matter.
However, investigators told NEXT that they have "fairly adequate take-off intelligence packages" to start out "a good sense investigation".
Law enforcement insiders interprete this as an indication that basic information on money movement, personalities involved, and a pattern of relationship have emerged from existing data to provide a reasonable basis for investigators to trigger their searchlight into the scandal where at least ₦750 million was shared out to CBN and government officials.
The bank note company, which in 2007 won the first contract in Nigeria to supply the polymer substrate on which bank notes are printed, Guardian®, has since come under investigation by the AFP, following allegations of bribery. Following reports in the Nigerian media championed by NEXT, the Nigerian Senate and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reportedly claimed an immediate launch of investigations into the affair.
The CBN's response
At the CBN's headquarters in Abuja, however, no one was able to confirm that there had been an enquiry into the bribery affair, which points fingers at officials of the CBN who could have taken bribes to aid Securency to clinch the contract which has enabled the company sell at least 1.9billion pieces of its polymer substrate, Guardian®, to Nigeria.
The spokesperson for the CBN, Abdullahi Mohammed, was away in Istanbul and could not give an official statement for the CBN. Abdul-Mumin Isa, an official in the Media Relations department of the CBN spoke on his behalf.
"The central bank does not micromanage issues and we do not react to issues on the pages of the newspaper," he said.
"The CBN governor and the CBN spokesman are out of the country," he added suggesting that there might be an official statement when the CBN officials return on Monday.
An official of the CBN, speaking on condition of anonymity, however, confirmed that although there have been reports that the CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi, has promised to investigate the allegations, there have been no activities to suggest the launch of investigations.
"We also read about Sanusi's statement in the newspapers. We are not aware of the investigations," our source said.
Nonetheless, NEXT gathered in Abuja that the CBN governor has contacted the country's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes commission about the matter.
No official EFCC confirmation could be obtained to verify this claim.
The legislator's response
Speaking to NEXT on Thursday, October 8, 2009, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media and the official spokesperson of the Nigerian Senate, Ayogu Eze, was clueless about a Senate investigation of the bribery allegation.
"I must confess in all honesty that I am not aware of it," he said.
"The matter has not been brought before us; not to the best of my knowledge. You may want to ask our Senate committee chairman on banking, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, she might be aware," Mr. Eze said.
Mrs. Nwaogu, however, did not respond to telephone calls and messages sent to her.
The police's agony
As with the Senate and the CBN, the spokesperson of the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigerian Police in Lagos, Akan Ezima, said the agency had not received any report on the alleged bribery.
Mr. Ezima in a telephone interview said, "I heard that an Australian news agency reported that the company that got the contract to print the polymer notes in Nigeria bribed some people. But as I am talking to you now, there is no case with us on this matter. If there is any, I would have known," he said.
At the Federal Ministry of Justice, speaking on behalf of the Attorney General of Nigeria, Taye Akinyemi, said he could not confirm whether there has been a launch of local investigations as well as the reports of the presence of the Australian police in Nigeria to seek co-operation in the investigations.
"I am not aware that the Australian police is in Nigeria. I do not have any documents to indicate this," he said.
Mr. Akinyemi also explained that the Australians would only need co-operation from the Ministry of Justice, if they required official documents and that so far, this has not been done.