The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may reopen investigation into the $180million Halliburton scam in January, The Nation gathered yesterday.
Some of those implicated in the scandal, including three former Heads of State, may be reinvestigated, a source said.
Others, who were spared by the previous administration, may also be questioned.
The reopening of the case may enable the nation to get more of the looted funds from the United States
According to sources, the EFCC may have discovered that Nigeria did not get a fair deal from the investigation of the scam.
The commission also felt some of the suspects, who entered into a plea bargain, did not return substantial funds, a source said, adding: “As from January, the EFCC will reopen investigation into the $180m Halliburton bribery scam because the nation has not got enough justice.
“Out of about $22, 417, 000 and DRM 500,000 bribes shared to top government officials in Nigeria, about N2.5billion fines were paid by some companies.
.”Some suspects, who were neck-deep in the scam, got presidential reprieve, which compelled the leadership of the anti-graft agency to overlook their infractions.
“But the era of impunity is over; we will reopen the probe into the Halliburton scandal and recover the bribe.”
The source said: “No matter how big the suspects are, we will recover the cash. We have the list of the beneficiaries of the bribe sum.”
The source added: “ At a point, the US Government found about $133, 073,750m, which was found in the account of Jeffery Tesler who was the facilitator of the bribery.
“Upon this discovery, the Federal Government proposed a 50-50 sharing formula of the funds. We want to know what has become of this arrangement. Certainly, there are many pegs to the Halliburton scandal.
“We are also a subject of ridicule in the international community – that none of the suspects has been successfully prosecuted and jailed.”
An Abuja High Court on March 27, 2013 struck out the case against six Nigerian suspects arraigned over the Halliburton scandal.
Those set free were a former Permanent Secretary, Ibrahim Aliyu, Mohammed Gidado Bakari and four companies.
The four companies are Urban Shelter Ltd, Intercellular Nigeria Ltd, Sherwood Petroleum Ltd and Tri-Star Investment Ltd.
The six accused persons had stood trial for allegedly serving as conduits and receiving bribes to facilitate natural gas contracts between 1994 and 2005.
Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar said the prosecution had failed to diligently prosecute the case.
