| FBI Denies Clearing Atiku in US Congressman Scandal |
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| Monday, 29 May 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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LAOLU AKANDE, NEW YORK US authorities have denied clearing Nigeria's Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the ongoing scandal involving a $100,000 bribe allegation leveled against a US Congressman William Jefferson, a Democrat from the state of Louisiana. A spokesman of the US government in the Department of Justice, (DOJ) Bryan Sierra disclosed to this reporter, saying it is not the duty of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI to clear people, adding however that the DOJ, equivalent of Nigeria's Justice Ministry, does not make public comments on on-going investigations. He refused also to answer whether indeed Atiku is still under FBI's investigation or not. The FBI is under the United States DOJ. When asked to comment on newspaper reports that the Vice President has been cleared, Sierra simply said what happened was a public release of an affidavit sworn to by FBI Special Agent conducting the investigation without making any charges or clearing anyone. He refused to comment on the apparent continuing investigation of the Vice President. Reminded that VP Abubakar's residence in Potomac, Maryland was raided last August, the US government Spokesman insisted that although the search was widely reported in the media, it was not a public affair. He added that "we do not comment on whether or not someone is being investigated." Asked again to comment on the Nigerian connection in the Jefferson bribery scandal case now rocking the US government, Sierra said that would be up to the Congressman and his lawyers to do. Calls to both were not returned as at press time. The US Justice Department however made a direct copy of the affidavit sworn to by FBI Special Agent Timothy R. Thibault available to this reporter. The affidavit was the basis upon which the FBI proceeded on a search of the Congressman Jefferson's office at the US Congress recently leading to a stern and united protest from the US Congress leaders who vehemently opposed the search of what is the premises of an equal arm of US government-the legislature, by another arm, the executive. Leaders of the Congress from both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party protested the search, arguing that it violated the spirit of the US constitution and tradition regarding the sacred notion of separation of power. By Thursday last week the US President George W. Bush ordered all the records seized from the said search to be sealed for 45 days in order to work out a dispute between the US Department of Justice and the US Congress over the documents. Many considered the search of the office of a US Congressman an unprecedented and dangerous dimension in a country where the notion of separate but equal arms of government is very well entrenched. However judging from the affidavit of the FBI, regarding the Jefferson scandal it is clear that the US government through the FBI is protecting the Nigerian vice president and his Maryland US-based wife Jennifer due to diplomatic courtesies between both governments. But the Nigerian Vice President has actively denied any wrongdoing of any kind in this matter. Investigations reveal that over 20 pages of the released affidavit sworn to by the FBI were blotted out because several of such pages had very clear and certain references to the vice president or his wife, according to knowledgeable sources. A review of the 95-page affidavit by this reporter confirmed the pages blotted out. For instance on page 4 the affidavit opens a discussion of the intended targets in the investigation according to the FBI. The names listed included the US Congressman William Jefferson, Vernon Jackson, a businessman and CEO of iGate, the US telecommunications firm trying to do broadband technology business in Nigeria through NITEL-for which the Congressman allegedly said he would pass on the $100,000 bribe to Vice President Atiku, and Brett M. Pfeffer, an assistant to the US Congressman. The three names above were listed in a,b,c. When the list got to the 4th person, ie item d, the contents were completely blotted out. Meanwhile, both Jackson and Pfeffer have pleaded guilty and are now known to be helping FBI in the investigations. Again on page 9, after several indications and references to Nigeria and Ghana's officials including the vice presidents of both countries, the affidavit said, "with regard to the Nigerian business venture, Jefferson discussed the making of payments to high ranking government officials there, including.............(name blotted out) on July 18, 2005 in Potomac, Maryland." The Vice President's US home is based in Potomac. More directly on page 24 of the affidavit, section I of the affidavit discussed "Congressman Jefferson's official acts in support of the Nigerian business venture." Under that sub-title, the FBI document said "After June 8, 2005, Congressman Jefferson continued to promote the Nigerian business venture through official acts in his capacity as United State Congressman." Another sub-section opens with the sub-heading "Congressman Jefferson writes official letter to the Vice President of Nigeria. The contents of the letter and the next three pages following were completely blotted out in the affidavit. But curiously the Congressman, who has not been charged as yet in this scandal did not sign that said letter which was sent to Vice President Atiku dated June 21, 2005. Also the letter was sent through the Nigerian embassy address in Washington and not the Potomac address of the Vice President apparently suggesting the Vice President Atiku's preference to deal with the matter as an official issue. However observers have wondered why such a letter left unsigned by the Congressman should be treated or accepted at all by the Nigerian embassy and the vice president. According to the FBI, "the letter is unsigned" but merely provides a signature block that has the Congressman's name typed in at the bottom. Referring later in the affidavit to the parts of the letter to the vice president from Congressman Jefferson, FBI alleges that the Congressman did not disclose to the vice president that he had 30% interest in Rosecom, the Nigerian company that was meant to work out the operation of the broadband technology with NITEL in Nigeria. FBI added that the letter also did not disclose that the Congressman Jefferson also owned stock in iGate the US firm planning to invest the $50m in Nigeria regarding the technology. On the other hand however, the affidavit indicated that Jefferson described a certain Nigerian top government official, believed clearly to be Atiku to be corrupt. On page 18 the affidavit noted that the Congressman "then mentioned that......(blotted out) was scheduled to arrive in Washington D.C. on May 1, 2005. He went on to describe...(blotted out..)as a businessman who has more deals going than the goddamn man in the moon." In what knowledgeable sources confirmed as a reference to Atiku, the affidavit added further quoting Jefferson saying "he's a very, well, the word might be ..corrupt." According to the affidavit, Jefferson was asked by his business associates involved in the deal whether he had talked to him about the iGate deal and he responded saying-in apparent reference again to Atiku, "He thinks it's great. He can easily be involved in this. The FBI affidavit then added that "Jefferson then described a role...(blotted out) could play in the iGate project in Nigeria: All we are talking about here is someone who will go to NITEL and say, look, do one of two things, partner with these guys...or let them lease your lines. For a reasonable figure. You know ten bucks per customer, or something. Five bucks, seven bucks a customer...something like that." Interestingly, the focus shifts on page 29 to Atiku's wife, Jennifer, who is normally based in the Potomac residence of the Vice President. The Congressman suggested to his associates that the transfer of the intended bribe, money which was eventually found in his freezer-ie $90,000 of the intended $100,000 bribe for the vice president, could be done by using the GEDE Foundation, belonging to the Vice President's wife in the US. According to the FBI, Jefferson "suggested that a payment to...(blotted out) could be made by way of a payment to the foundation. According to the affidavit, the Congressman described what is apparently the foundation set up by Jennifer Atiku "as a likely front." But in all, the Congressman, although he said he had delivered the money to the Nigerian Vice President, did not do so as most of the cash was eventually discovered in his freezer. Other top Nigerian officials mentioned in the affidavit included the President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was mentioned only by office. On page 8, the affidavit said "the official acts performed by Congressman Jefferson in exchange for his actual and/or solicited receipt of stock in these foreign entities, and other things of value include: communicating with both the President and Vice President of Nigeria in an effort to secure iGate business venture there. There were also references to the Nigerian Minister of Communication, also by title only. It is believed that the US government under diplomatic courtesies would have made a copy of the unedited version of the affidavit available to the Nigerian government. When this reporter asked the US Spokesman about the involvement of the Vice President's wife in the investigation, he refused to comment. The US Congresman has also said the FBI affidavit is only one side of ther story.
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Posted by Robot| 29.05.2006 16:03