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�TSKJ not cooperative with Reps over $171m
Chiawo Nwankwo, Abuja
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions on Thursday wound up its sitting as it accused the TSKJ Consortium of failing to cooperate with it in unravelling how its agent, paid out $171million as bribes to government officials on the Nigerian National Liquefied Natural Gas Project.
A firm, Trister, which engaged the services of Mr. Jeffery Testler, a London based lawyer, was said to have distributed the bribe to officials yet to be known.
Five company executives of the consortium, who appeared before the committee to answer questions on the bribe scam, parried all questions from the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Chudi Offodile, on who introduced Trister to TSKJ and the kind of services he rendered.
The affected representatives were Messrs, Douglas Ray Sedwoich (TSKJ Nig Ltd), Atuo Alexander, (KBR), Francis Dol Faboro, (Snaprogetti), Kenyi Yamamotor of Japanese Gas Corporation and Mr. Jacob Xavier of Technip.
Ironically, all admitted that Trister was a business partner to the consortium, adding that they knew nothing about the bribery, as some of them had not been with the firms, when the said crime was perpetrated.
When all persuasions to extract information from them failed, Offodile then said it was imperative to get to why Trister was paid. It was a question that electrified the hall with laughter even from the expatriates, who also declined to answer directly.
However, at a point, Alexander of KBR said the Trister contract with the consortium was �suspended because of suspicion of corruption,� adding that payment for his services had been suspended.
�Payment has been stopped and measures are being put in place to stop the contract. When the payment was made, I was not there, I was not aware of it, my company only just told me about the matter. That is the statement I can make and I cannot make further,� he stated.
Offodile while giving details of how the loose funds was paid to Trister to distribute, said that in March 1995, TSKJ released $60 million, $37.5 million in 1999, $51million in 2001 and $23 million in 2002, amounting to $171 million.
When the scandal broke out, according to Offodile, KBR sacked its chairman, Mr. AJ Stanley.
But a former Chairman of NLNG Board, Alhaji MD Yusuf, had admitted that he received an unspecified amount from Tesler in 1997 and 1998, stressing that this was after he had left the Board.
Former Petroleum Minister, Dan Etete, in exile in France, only submitted a statement he had deposed to, adding that he knew nothing about the bribery and that the contract had been awarded before his appointment.
He however, through his representatives, Mr. Rasky Binigie that he was prepared to answer further questions from the committee to clarify any issues.
Speaking to our correspondent after the committee wound up, Offodile said, he could not go ahead with the hearing as the TSKJ consortium representatives, remained adamant in the approach to the issue.
One of their general response was that the scandal was still being investigated in the US, France and Britain and therefore would not say any thing prejudicial to the investigations going on their home countries.
The PUNCH, Friday, October 22, 2004
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