Nigeria: Why We Struck Halliburton Deal - Waziri

Leadership

26 December 2010

Nigeria: Why We Struck Halliburton Deal - Waziri

Abuja, Abuja — The executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri has said that the recent deal of the federal government with Halliburton and other international corporate organisations over the widely celebrated bribery scandal was struck in the general interest of the nation.

Speaking at the weekend with some selected journalists, the anti-corruption agency boss explained why she opted for plea bargaining instead of outright prosecution of the affected organisations. She said the EFCC recovered a grand total of $168,119,261.74 (about, N25, 049 billion).

According to her, "We decided to take this option for variety of reasons; one, plea bargaining is the latest and best world practice outside of Nigeria. The US and the UK governments are practising it.