well so much for THAT extradition
…and I had such high hopes, too. If you’ll recall, Nigeria was making noises about going after Cheney: Dick Cheney’s Nigerian nightmare
The story defies easy summary. In essence, an international consortium of four companies, including Halliburton’s Kellogg Brown & Root subsidiary, is suspected of having paid a $180 million bribe to the former government of Nigeria in order to build a liquefied-natural-gas plant in that country valued at $4 billion to $6 billion. The other companies are from France, Italy, and Japan. The alleged bribe has been under investigation since last year by Renaud van Ruymbeke, a French judge with a reputation for probity and independence. Van Ruymbeke has gone so far as to suggest that he may summon Cheney to France to be questioned about what, if anything, he knew about the payments - and possibly even to face legal charges. Recently, the Nigerian government, the US Justice Department, and the Securities and Exchange Commission opened their own inquiries into the Nigerian matter. And Halliburton has retained a lawyer with close ties to the Bush administration to conduct an internal investigation.
All good stuff, right?
Well, not so fast. Seems that Bush Sr., James Baker Instrumental in Getting Nigeria to Drop Bribery Charges Against Cheney
Bush and Baker participated in conference call discussions with senior Nigerian government officials, including the country’s attorney general, Mohammed Adoke, last weekend on behalf of Cheney in an attempt to work out a settlement, according to Nigerian news reports.
Representatives for Halliburton also participated in the talks.
On Friday, Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the agency that filed the 16-count indictment last week, said the case against Cheney and Halliburton was “formally dropped.”
Earlier this week, Babafemi said Halliburton agreed during negotiation talks to a “plea bargain” and to “pay $250 million in fines in lieu of prosecution.” He said the Nigerian government accepted the terms of the settlement.
Crap.
Hey, was Cheney ever in Sweden…?
Originally published at What's that you said?. You can comment here or there.