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A Federal High Court judge, David
Okorowo, disqualified himself from hearing the $180 million Halliburton
bribery scandal on Tuesday, after the federal government failed to
produce the accused persons in court.

Three weeks ago, the attorney general
of the federation and minister of justice, Bello Adoke, assured that
the suspects involved in the case would be arraigned in court. However,
when the matter came up yesterday, there were no suspects in court.

The Federal government’s counsel, Olu
Fatunde, informed the court that he had yet to serve the suspects with
court processes. Mr. Okorowo said the matter could not be mentioned if
the suspects were not in court and had not been served yet. He sent the
case file to the chief judge for re-assignment to another judge and
adjourned the suit, pending when it is assigned.

“I have no jurisdiction to entertain this matter,” declared Mr. Okorowo.

Scrambling for explanations

Several foreign companies, most notably
the U.S. oil and gas giant, Halliburton, are accused of paying bribes
worth millions of dollars to high-ranking government officials during
the process to award the contract for Africa’s first liquefied natural
gas plant in 2002 and 2003.

Mr. Adoke, who just returned from a
trip to the UK, admitted that the suspects have not been formally
served, despite being charged last week.

“The files were returned because the suspects have not been formally charged,” he said.

The attornery general added that the defendants would be served tomorrow and a new trial date would be “formally announced.”

However, in an earlier interview with NEXT, he promised that all those involved in the scam would be charged to court.

The suspects include some of the
nation’s most powerful people, but Mr. Adoke assured that the trial
would be conducted without bias, as it would boost President Goodluck
Jonathan’s anti-corruption credentials as the 2011 elections approached.

Though Mr. Adoke’s counsel refused to
release the charges to the press, suspects to be arraigned are George
Mark, the former personal assistant to ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo
; Ibrahim Aliyu, a former federal permanent secretary; Hans George
Christ; Heinrich J. Stockhausen; Julius Berger Nigeria Plc; Bilfinger
Berger GMBH; AVM Abdullahi Dominic Bello; Mohammed Gidado Bakare; Urban
Shelter Limited; Intercellular Nigeria Limited; Sheerwood Petroleum
Limited; Tri-Star Investment Limited; Maizube Holdings Limited; TSKJ
Nigeria Limited – (a) Technip S.A.; (b)Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V.;
(c) Kellog Brown and Root Inc.; (d) Japan Gasoline Corporation of Japan.

Already in US courts

A court in the United States has already begun prosecution of the case.

In 2008, one of the suspects, Albert J.
Stanley, admitted that he orchestrated more than $180 million in bribes
to senior government officials in Nigeria. Mr. Stanley said that the
bribes were channelled through a UK-based lawyer, Jeffery Tesler, in
four installments of $60 million, $32.5 million, $51 million, and $23
million between 1995 and 2005 in London.

Top government officials and their
accomplices stashed the funds in private accounts in France, the United
Kingdom, Switzerland, Portugal, and The Seychelles.

Last week, $130 million worth of funds were uncovered in Mr. Tesler’s account in Switzerland and frozen by the US government.