US Court Records Yield Some Details of Willbros $6m Bribery Scandal of Nigerian Officials

Nov

2007

	By *Empowered Newswire* 11 November 2007

Our Reporter

More details of the $6million Willbros bribery scandal between the US oil service company and the Nigerian officials in the government, PDP, NNPC, NAPIMS and Shell are now emerging with the release of US court papers showing glimpses of how the bribery was conducted, Empowered Newswire reports.

A color-coded list provided by the US government and filed in court by the defendant Jason Edward Steph, the Willbros General Manager who pleaded guilty last Monday in the scandal showed that the $6m deal was carried out in 4 series of payments made to Nigerian officials whose names were not properly mentioned. Of all the names mentioned only one was complete with first and last names making the individuals difficult to identify.

But in all court papers showed that about $7m was committed in bribes by the US company to Nigerian officials, although there were still outstanding bribe payments to be made, according to the papers as at the time the whole transaction ended in 2005.

The color-coded list made available to Empowered Newswire also revealed that there were different projects involved for which the bribes were paid including such oil companies like Fusion Petroluem Asasa/Asabo, Addax, Shell and Chevron as those handling different aspects of the projects. The name of a bank-Bank Saradar was also listed as receiving 2% from each of the various project, about 4 in all as one of the project was listed as "various projects." But the bank's payment this was not listed as a bribe.

Another interesting information on the list was the series of fights on how the bribe money was to be distributed. For instance according to the document, which was apparently a WILLBROS company recordings of the bribe payment, there was a note that said "we have had this 1% party situation thrown to us by the GMD and it is not the same as the VP. I am hoping to resolve so we do not double pay, but this is all of the commits." But PDP insiders insist that normally the party takes 6% from government contracts to fund party activities. The notes were clearly that of the WILLBROS official handling the bribe payments to the officials involved.

On the second page of the list, there was also a note that said "we had too many fights on this one"-ie the bribes paid on a particular project names EGGS COATING.

Then the note went on "and I met yesterday (but no date on the list) with other guys about splitting as they came to say congrats so it may still be possible before final award. We had to go to so many due to the fights and Prince came thru at the end as the VP backed down. We will join it with EPC if we cannot get a reduction in the commits."

Another note made it clear that WILLBROS was not going to fail on the contribution for the PDP. Said a note on the 3rd list referring to the 3rd project, "the only one we want to contribute on a timely basis is the party."

On the last list titled various projects, the WILLBROS official making the notes said " I would like to settle a majority of these commits before the big projects really get going to avoid any confusion and accounting red tape. Half of these projects have not commenced but when they do lets settle."

An attempt by the defendant lawyer Matt Hennessy to compel the US government lawyer to reveal greater information regarding the Nigerian officials was denied in September by the US Judge Sim Lake who is hearing the case.

But last Monday WILLBROS former GM Steph pleaded guilty and the court manager for Judge Sim Lake told Empowered Newswire that sentencing has been fixed for 3:30pm on Jan. 25, 2008, while Steph is free on bond until then.

Your Comments

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Robot

# 1 | 11.11.2007 20:15

	Our Reporter Moredetails of the $6million Willbros bribery scand...Read the full article.

Donn

# 2 | 12.11.2007 03:07

	I think we should be careful before jumping to conclusions that the VP is the same as the Vice President.......until it is prooved beyond doubt....let us not dance on the man's grave when he is still breathing.

Native Native is offline

# 3 | 12.11.2007 05:35

	Atiku links Obasanjo’s aide to $6m oil scam *From Yomi Odunuga, Abuja Bureau Chief* (THE NATION...--Monday, 12 Nov 2007) Who was the top Presidency executive paid part of the $6 million bribe by an American oil firm to facilitate the award of the contract for the Eastern Gas Gathering System project? That question is yet to be answered as former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar insists that a close aide of former President Olusegun Obasanjo could have pulled a fast one on Wilbros Group, fronting as Nigeria’s number two citizen. At the weekend in Abuja, Atiku said in a statement that though the plea bargain entered with the United States Department of Justice by a former Wilbros official, Mr. Jason Edward Steph, did not mention his name, there was an urgent need to identify the Nigerians involved in the corrupt payments. In the plea bargain, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent, Steph had pleaded guilty to making "a series of corrupt payments totaling in excess of $6 million to, among others, officials of NNPC, NAPIMS, a senior official in the executive" branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and to the political party, as well as to the officials of SPDC, to assist in obtaining the EGGS project and its optional scopes of work." Suspecting that he could be named the said "senior official in the executive", the former vice president said he had instructed his lawyers to take action against anybody linking his person to the bribery allegation. A source told The Nation that Atiku was convinced that a close and powerful aide to former President Obasanjo was neck-deep in the scam as he acted as the alternate minister during the time. He said: "How can anybody link Atiku to this? We know who is involved because the former Vice-President had already lost favour in the Presidency when the event happened and he couldn’t have sat on the negotiating table with the agencies and characters mentioned by Steph. "In any case, why should Atiku raise money for the Peoples Democratic Party? Is it not public knowledge that he was pushed out of the party immediately Obasanjo started his vindictiveness? We are insisting on getting to the details of this matter," the source said. To justify its position, the Atiku Campaign Office released a statement yesterday in Abuja, noting that the intention was to link the Action Congress (AC) presidential candidate to the deal by all means. The statement read: "You are likely to receive a malicious report linking H.E the former Vice President,Atiku Abubakar to the unfolding scandal, linking senior Nigerian government and NNPC officials to bribery by the oil service company, Willbros. "In all of the documents before the court, no mention or reference was made either in the name or office of the Vice-President. But by way of suspected blackmail, a certain defence attorney was heard to peddle Atiku’s name. As you can see from the attached documents,no where was such a name mentioned. "Our lawyers have warned that any such story linking Atiku to these matters will be malicious and, therefore actionable in court. "We reviewed and attached all documents that have been made public by the U.S. government in the Wilbros case. Attached are the July 19, 2007 Indictment of the Willbros official, his Plea Agreement of November 5th and a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice on November 5th. The factual allegations made in the documents are summarized below. "Jason Edward Steph, a former employee of Wilbros International Inc., a subsidiary of Wilbros Group International was indicted for conspiring to violate the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act on July 19, 2007. On November 5, 2007, Steph entered into a plea agreement with the United States in which he pleaded guilty. "Wilbros International, Inc. provides various services in the oil and gas industry such as construction and engineering. The company participated in the first phase of the Eastern Gas Gathering System Project. Steph held the position of General Manager-Onshore in Nigeria. Steph’s actions centered around his desire to obtain a contract for WGI and its various subsidiaries to participate in the second phase of EGGS. "The U.S. Department of Justice alleged, and Steph admitted, that he had entered into a series of transactions with a number of businesses and individuals in order to secure a contract for the second phase of EGGS. Steph and others determined that if a series of payments were made to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, its subsidiary National Petroleum Management Services, a senior official in the executive branch of the federal government of Nigeria, a political party and Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, they could win the contract. "Payments to Nigerian officials were made through a series of sham transactions that took place from late 2004 through March 2005. Steph, with the help of other employees of WGI and its subsidiaries and two individuals unaffiliated with WGI, obtained the money by defrauding WGI. "Nowhere in the indictment of Steph or his plea agreement is the Nigerian official named, nor is his position with the government disclosed. He is only referred to as a senior official in the executive branch. The indictment also refers to government officials who acted on behalf of NNPC, NAPIMS and the political party. But again, none of these are identified by name or specific position." SOURCE

Sincere Brillow Sincere Brillow is offline

# 4 | 12.11.2007 07:21

	Villagers, I care less now if the V.P coded in the note is Atiku or a close aide of OBJ. My concern is the 6% being paid by contractors to the party called PDP. This is stealing,robbery,corruption of the highest order.It is tantantamount to Staeling at gun point. How can you use the money of Nigerians-the whole nigerians who belong to 50 different itical party to fund one party. Today,i can confirm the following: Lagos Abeokuta Expressway is in a bad shape Lagos Ibadan Expressway is in a mess Lagos Benin Expressway is a death trap Gombe Yola Expressway is fast becoming a gully The Express way to Jalingo is Killing. The contractors awarded this contracts if they were ever awarded would have every reason to do a shoddy job there because the substantial part of the funds meant for the road has been sunk into bribing the party in power.It is a National Shame.I doubt if some Nigerians know what is happening on the corridors of power.

Tunde meee Tunde meee is offline

# 5 | 12.11.2007 08:30

	"I doubt if some Nigerians know what is happening on the corridors of power" This brillow guy is funny. How do you expect Nigerians to know what is going on in the corridors of power when the whole household of power is barricaded from the masses.

Yankari Yankari is offline

# 6 | 12.11.2007 08:41

	=Sincere Brillow;2091819139>Villagers, I care less now if the V.P coded in the note is Atiku or a close aide of OBJ. My concern is the 6% being paid by contractors to the party called PDP. This is stealing,robbery,corruption of the highest order.It is tantantamount to Staeling at gun point. How can you use the money of Nigerians-the whole nigerians who belong to 50 different itical party to fund one party. Today,i can confirm the following: Lagos Abeokuta Expressway is in a bad shape Lagos Ibadan Expressway is in a mess Lagos Benin Expressway is a death trap Gombe Yola Expressway is fast becoming a gully The Express way to Jalingo is Killing. The contractors awarded this contracts if they were ever awarded would have every reason to do a shoddy job there because the substantial part of the funds meant for the road has been sunk into bribing the party in power.It is a National Shame.I doubt if some Nigerians know what is happening on the corridors of power. "Yet tommorrow morning someone would get up and write 'Yaradua ' is an honest guy bla bla bla. while some will still hold out hope that something good can come out of a country run by PDP.,I stand firmly on Bola Ige's famous quote, 'blessed are those that do not hope, for they shall not be disappointed' and if i must add Yaradua will not deliver anything, afterall he never promised anything during his campaign, unless you take 'servant leader' as a manifesto!"

pappilo pappilo is offline

# 7 | 12.11.2007 09:04

	Yet tommorrow morning someone would get up and write 'Yaradua ' is an honest guy bla bla bla. while some will still hold out hope that something good can come out of a country run by PDP.,I stand firmly on Bola Ige's famous quote, 'blessed are those that do not hope, for they shall not be disappointed' and if i must add Yaradua will not deliver anything, afterall he never promised anything during his campaign, unless you take 'servant leader' as a manifesto Most Nigerians are delusional but you can blame them, In hopless times you can only wish for the best

Sincere Brillow Sincere Brillow is offline

# 8 | 12.11.2007 10:35

	=Tunde meee;2091819164>"I doubt if some Nigerians know what is happening on the corridors of power" This brillow guy is funny. How do you expect Nigerians to know what is going on in the corridors of power when the whole household of power is barricaded from the masses. Tunde Meee, Pardon me if it seems funny.I am just simply amiss as to what is really happening. I ask myself:Is it that i am mentally deranged together with over 100 million nigerians? Reason; All this political office holder together with the police together with their thugs plus their ammunitions & sychophants are not up to 1million put together. Yet they make life miserable for a whopping 100million people. Pls correct me if my mathematics is wrong. Or perhaps i am on the wrong side of the divide. I dont know. I watch CNN,SKYNEWS etc and see mass protest against irresponsible govt. I see Lawyers demonstarting on the streets I see Students slugging it out with law officers over a just cause I see boycotts that leads to granting of demands All this i see in other countries. But in my country what i see is Lamidi Adedibu-crooked,illetrate,senile,blockhead deciding the fate of literates. A petty hairdresser renovating her apartment with public funds which is enough to pay the annual salary of 60 Graduates for 5yrs @ 2million Naira per annum.(Conservative Estimate) I dont know,i dont Know,I dont Know, Yet i am part of them.