Posted by By Ike Nnamdi on
Agents of the elite American Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) are on their way to Abuja on the trail of several former top Nigerian officials implicated in a multi-billion dollar scam at the Liquified Natural Gas project.
Agents of the elite American Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) are on their way to Abuja on the trail of several former top Nigerian officials implicated in a multi-billion dollar scam at the Liquified Natural Gas project.
The agents, dispatched by the Justice Department are to gather more evidence, as well as probe into assets of the affected officials to be used in their impending trial.
All the officials served in three previous administrations from 1994 to 2004.
Washington said the agents will also provide "the smoking gun evidence" to officials of the Nigerian Ministry of Justice to sign off on a proposal to try all the officials in American courts.
Already, the administration has prepared grounds for the trial by approving for the case to be tried in the U.S District Court of Houston, Texas.
Court records showed that the officials whose names remain sealed until the case begins, allegedly connived with foreign businessmen to siphon over N21 billion set aside for the LNG project.
Already the alleged mastermind of the scam, American businessman, Jack Stanley, has been jailed for the crime, but has pledged to cooperate with investigators for a reduction in his sentence.
"This act reached up to the highest levels of the Nigerian government, but all those involved will be brought to trial," an official stated.
But the State Department has expressed scepticism that Nigerian officials will allow the affected officials to be tried in the U.S. "We hope the Nigerian authorities will cooperate with us to investigate this matter and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. This will show the government is serious about its war on corruption.'