Monday November 19, 08:24 AM
Nigeria announces probe into Siemens bribery claims
ABUJA (AFP) - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has ordered an investigation into allegations that German telecommunications giant Siemens AG (Xetra: 723610 - news) paid bribes to some former Nigerian ministers to win contracts here.
"The President has directed all the relevant security agencies to thoroughly investigate the allegations and take appropriate legal actions against anybody implicated in corrupt practices," said presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi in a statement received Monday.
"In this Siemens scandal, as in all cases that border on good governance and transparency, there will neither be sacred cows nor a cover up for anybody found culpable of breaching the law," the statement said.
The Wall Street Journal Europe reported on its website Saturday that Siemens paid about 17.5 million dollars (12 million euros) in bribes to government and industry officials in Nigeria, Russia and Libya in a bid to win contracts.
Using documents released last month by a court in Munich, the newspaper published a list of alleged recipients of 77 bribes from the three countries, detailing how much money went to each of the officials.
The court document seen by The Journal indicated that about 10 million euros went to Nigerians, including an immigration official, a senator and four former telecommunications ministers: Bello Mohammed, Tajudeen Olanrewaju, Cornelius Adebayo and the late Haruna Elewi, the WSJ report said.
It said that in Russia, 38 bribes totalling about two million euros went to the heads of nearly two dozen regional state-controlled telephone companies in the east and west of the country.
Six bribes totaling about 300,000 euros were received by two officials at Libya's state-run General Post and Telecommunications Co., the paper said.
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