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Fresh evidence in the Daimler
bribery scandal links key actors in the Nigerian presidency, heads of
law enforcement agencies, and the top echelon of the Nigerian
diplomatic community to a $15 million bribery spree in the half decade
between 2002 and 2007. Ongoing investigations in the United States,
where the German company has been indicted, has again slurred the image
of Nigeria, highlighting the systemic structure of corruption that has
permeated the Nigerian bureaucracy.

The U.S. investigation report
obtained by NEXT names Sokari Egbuson, former Nigerian Ambassador to
Brazil as one of the Nigerian officials who benefited from the slush
funds dished out by Daimler AG, the German motor manufacturing company,
in order to obtain government contracts in Nigeria.

According to US investigators,
between 2002 and 2005, Daimler AG through its Brazilian subsidiary, DC
do Brasil, paid Mr. Egbuson $60,000, which by current value amounts to
N9 million, as ‘commissions’ for a contract to supply 10 buses to the
Bayelsa State government. Mr. Egbuson allegedly carried out this
business by using his privately incorporated company, Cascadas Nigeria
Enterprises Ltd., which he co-owns with his wife, Titilope Egbuson.

The State House deal

Mr. Egbuson was not alone. Between
1998 and 1999, Daimler AG, through its Nigerian subsidiary, Anambra
Motor Manufacturing Company (Anammco), paid about N270 million in
bribes to the Nigerian presidency, then headed by former Military
president, Abdulsalami Abubakar.

In return, the federal government
granted Daimler AG a contract to supply 23 new Mercedes Benz passenger
vehicles, and an armoured Mercedes Benz Pullman limousine. For this
deal, Daimler inflated the wholesale price of the vehicles.

“Daimler charged the State House
approximately 21 per cent over the wholesale price for the vehicles,
parts, and services,” the US investigators said, and from the profits,
made handsome payments to the relevant authorities.

“In connection with these sales to
the State House, DAIMLER made 1,427,242.65 dollars in improper
commission payments…with the understanding that these funds would be
passed on, in whole or in part, to Nigerian officials to secure the
State House Contract,” the investigators said.

In 1999, a total of about 1
million Deutschmarks were paid in two instalments to the London bank
account of a high level ‘Executive Branch official,’ in Nigeria.

Furthermore, 50,000 Deutschmarks
was paid to the administrative staff of the State House who signed the
contract while another 50,000 was disbursed to “a delegation of State
House Officials who were visiting a DAIMLER factory in Sindelfingen,
Germany.”

The FIFA deal

In 1999, Nigeria hosted the World
Youth Championship for the Federation Internationale de Football
Association (FIFA). The FIFA Championship offered another opportunity
for profits, both for Daimler AG and for corrupt Nigerian government
officials.

In February of that year, Daimler
landed another juicy deal to supply 54 buses to the Ministry of
Industry, then headed by Onikepe Akande. For this deal, valued at
almost N1 billion, Daimler paid a total of N13.4 million to government
officials who helped the German company clinch the deal “without
engaging in a public tender or bidding process”.

“The contract was dated February
12, 1999, and was signed by a senior Nigerian government official with
the Ministry of Industry, and witnessed by another Ministry of Industry
employee,” the investigators said, adding that these two officials were
subsequently paid money in bribes in May, 1999 and September, 1999.

First comes the Police

In this N2.3 billion scandal, the
Nigerian police was not left out. To be precise, the Nigerian Police
was the first government entity which received money in bribes from
Daimler AG, according to the US investigative report.

In 1997, Daimler AG entered into a
contract with the Nigerian Police Force to supply a Master Lift
Heavy-Duty Recovery vehicle. The Nigeria Police at this point was
headed by Ibrahim Coomassie who was the Inspector General but, as NEXT
investigations reveal, Mr. Coomassie was sidelined in the procurement
and the contracting process was wholly handled by a bureaucrat of the
executive branch who the American investigators listed as the
‘Permanent Secretary, Police Affairs Office, and the President’s
office’.

Mr. Coomasie headed the office
between 1993 and May 1999, and Mr. Musiliu smith succeeded him from May
1999 to March 2002. Though the contract was signed during the Coomasie
administration, payment was made in 2000 during Smith administration.

The Permanent Secretary at the
time was Abu Ogbe who later became head of service under the Obasanjo
Administration but neither he nor Mr. Smith could be reached to comment
on the claim of investigators for the story.

For this contract, however,
Daimler paid, according to indictment documents of American
investigators now available, a total of about N19 million (using
current conversion rates) to a “member of the Nigerian Police Force” in
two instalments. First, into the officer’s account in Germany and then
by cash, according to the indictment papers.

Emmanuel Ojukwu, the Police
spokesperson however told NEXT in Abuja that he was unaware of the US
investigation report, adding that the Nigerian police is not carrying
out any investigations into the Daimler bribery scandal.

“I am not sure that the police is
working on the case. I don’t have any information on the matter. I
cannot respond because I have not seen the US report. I need to see the
report myself,” Mr. Ojukwu said.

Meanwhile, the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has launched investigations
into the matter and is looking to work with the US government to
uncover the bribe takers.

“We opened investigations into the
Daimler/ Anammco scam recently following a judgment in the U.S.” said
Femi Babafemi, spokesperson for the agency last week, adding that “So
far, we have interviewed about four officials and representatives of
Daimler and Anammco in Nigeria.”