Showing posts with label Bribery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bribery. Show all posts

Friday, April 15, 2011

President Goodluck Jonathan's Campaign Group Bribing Nigerian Voters


President Goodluck Jonathan and his running mate Vice President Namadi Sambo

A campaign group canvassing for voters to support President Goodluck Jonathan offered bribe via text message to the Publisher/Editor of Nigerians Report to vote for their presidential candidate and ask others to vote for him. But he rejected their bribe.

Many people are being offered different forms of bribe in cash and kind to vote for Mr. Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential election on Saturday April 16, 2011.

Some were offered recharge cards of N500 to N1, 500 to vote for him.

The corrupt and desperate ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) is using political bribery to compel Nigerian voters to vote for their presidential candidate.

The corrupt PDP has billions of dollars to use to bribe millions of voters to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan and political bribery is a criminal offense and an electoral malpractice that is another form of rigging an election.

The Sahara Reporters exposed the political bribes given to Nigerian journalists by the office of President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja.

We am against all forms of corrupt practices and since President Goodluck Jonathan and his ruling party are corrupt, we will never support him and will do our best to fight against corruption at all levels and save our beloved nation Nigeria from corrupt leaders who have been destroying our nation.

DO NOT VOTE FOR ANY CORRUPT POLITICIAN OR ANY CORRUPT PARTY!


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Why we collect brown envelopes- Nigerian Journalist



Why we collect brown envelopes- Nigerian Journalist

We met one afternoon in the first week of February in a small restaurant on the third floor of the E- Centre in Yaba, a suburb of Lagos. He seemed like a happy go lucky young man as he sat over his plate of jollof rice and chicken whilst I regarded him amusingly. He was sitting beside a popular celebrity blogger and award winning style entrepreneur whom I have known since she was 17 when I was the Editor of an offbeat news magazine in the late 1990s.

“I will not collect anything less than N25, 000, to report and get a story published in our magazine, “he said matter-of-factly in-between mouthfuls of his food.
“I am against journalists collecting brown envelopes,” I said emphatically.
He shrugged at my uncompromising attitude whilst I smirked at his unethical decision.
“We collect brown envelopes, because we are not well paid,” he explained.
“Not all journalists in Nigeria collect brown envelopes,” I said.
He looked up at me and laughed.
“Look, even those who were not collecting brown envelopes before now do so,” he said.
He mentioned that one of the brown envelope rookies was a journalist from the new daily newspaper published by a seasoned Nigerian journalist who became famous after winning the highly coveted Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in America.
“Their reporters were acting holier than others before, but one of them later succumbed and collected a brown envelope through a proxy,” he revealed giving details how money exchanged hands. He said the reporter was financially constrained and had to collect the money to make ends meet.

To find a Nigerian journalist who has never collected a brown envelope would be like searching for a matchstick in a haystack. Collecting brown envelopes to report news stories is now an informal income to augment their salaries, from the green horns to the seasoned professionals in the newsroom.

Well known members of staff of the most popular private TV and fm radio stations are actively engaged in corrupt practices of asking artistes and other personalities lump sums of money before they interview or feature them on air.

The DJs and VJs in Nigeria extort and exploit Nigerian artistes and others to give them financial inducements to “promote” them. But they do not make returns of their so called “promotional fees” to the management of their employers.

One celebrated DJ at a Pidgin English fm radio station on Victoria Island demanded about N250000 from a Nigerian born hip-hop artiste from the US, but he was queried when his employer found out through a whistle blower in the entertainment industry. He was so scared that he called the artiste and begged for negotiation. His female colleague quickly played the song of the artiste without asking for any brown envelope. But others still collected over N125, 000. One of them boasted that a popular record label paid as much as N2 million for the constant rotation of their hip-hop artistes on radio and TV. And that is the secret of their success and not the noisy songs of their artistes who cannot even get a record deal in the US or the UK where the music recording companies have not collapsed.

These DJs and VJs do not care about the quality of the songs and will hype and play the songs constantly as long as the artistes give them fat brown envelopes. But once you fail to pamper them with cash and gifts they will drop your songs in the drawers until further notice. These corrupt Nigerians simply play whatever you give to them once you have bribed them generously.

In the US and most other places, radio stations do not pay performers for airplay, but they do not extort them in a mutual rapport. Presently, the administration of President Barack Obama is already supporting legislation to make radio stations pay royalties to performers when they play their music just like satellite radio, Internet radio and cable TV music channels pay fees to performers and songwriters.

Cash-for-news coverage is very common all over the world, but permitting the corrupt practice has compromised standards of professional journalism, because a reporter or news channel can be bribed to report even falsehood as I have noted in one of the largest circulating dailies in Nigeria where one of the entertainment editors is fond of cash-for-news coverage to report exaggerated stories or falsehood to promote artistes and their works.

There was a particular case of "cash-for-news coverage" that really shocked me.
Some news reporters asked for brown envelopes to report the 2010 World Malaria Day hosted by the Media Forum of the African Media & Malaria Research Network, AMMREN, in Lagos, Nigeria. An important event for the benefit of the public to save millions of lives was exploited by unscrupulous Nigerian journalists to extort money from the non-profit NGO. The coordinator gave each reporter more than N5,000. But they even failed to give a good report of the event.

"But everybody missed it because it's badly cobbled together. For example, names are badly mixed-up, etc. That's worse than no report, " the coordinator complained to me.

“Cash-for-news coverage is more common in regional and local media than in national media, particularly among district and local media correspondents in small towns. It goes by various street names depending on location, including: red envelope, brown envelope, soli, marmalade, tips, and sitting allowance, among others. Bribery acceptance is linked here to low pay for journalists. It is exemplified as a means of government control of media, undermining democratization. Media control includes the use of false accusation of taking bribes to suppress independent journalists,” said Bill Ristow in Cash for Coverage: Bribery of Journalists Around the World published on September 28, 2010.

You should also read "The Shame of Brown Envelope Journalism" by Peter G. Mwesige
published on Friday, 17 September 2010, by the African Centre for Media Excellence.

The following recommendations have been made to stop the corrupt practices of cash-for-news coverage by the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) - National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

1. "International journalism organizations should:
o Take the initiative to support a summit on the topic of cash for news coverage, to include representatives of the public-relations industry and experts on how corporations deal with bribery.
o Issue regular reports documenting... this 'dark side' of the profession.
o Take the lead in documenting - and publicizing - the pay levels of journalists around the world...

2. Media-development organizations should:
o Sharpen their focus on ethics training...
o Support the creation and nurture of media accountability systems such as ombudsmen and other mechanisms to heighten transparency in how journalists do their work.

3. News media owners, managers, and editors should:
o Adopt, publicize, and then stick to a firm policy of zero tolerance...
o Review pay policies...
o Take the initiative in creating accountability systems on their own, such as appointing an ombudsman...

4. Public relations professionals and their organizations should:
o Not wait for the journalists to suggest a summit. They can suggest it themselves...
o Encourage their members to practice zero tolerance...

5. NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and corporations should:
o Just say no.... adopt a firm rule against paying, put it in writing and make it public, and stick to it in all cases."


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima



Friday, January 29, 2010

Former Willbros International Executives Sentenced to Prison for Their Roles in $6 Million Nigerian Bribery Scandal

29 Jan 2010 00:46 Africa/Lagos


Former Willbros International Executives Sentenced to Prison for Their Roles in $6 Million Foreign Bribery Scheme

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two former executives of Willbros International Inc. (WII), a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc. (Willbros), were sentenced today for their roles in a conspiracy to pay more than $6 million in bribes to government officials of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and officials from a Nigerian political party, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Acting Assistant Director in Charge John G. Perren of the FBI's Washington Field Office.


Jason Edward Steph, 40, was sentenced today to 15 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Simeon T. Lake III in Houston. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Lake ordered Steph to serve two years of supervised release following his prison term and to pay a $2,000 fine. The court acknowledged at the sentencing hearing the assistance Steph provided in ongoing investigations.


Jim Bob Brown, 48, was sentenced today to 12 months and one day in prison by Judge Lake. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Lake ordered Brown to serve two years of supervised release following his prison term and to pay a fine of $1,000 per month while Brown is on supervised release. The court acknowledged at the sentencing hearing the assistance Brown provided in ongoing investigations.


Steph and Brown both had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) before Judge Lake in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. In pleading guilty, Steph and Brown admitted that Willbros, a publicly traded company that provides construction, engineering and other services in the oil and gas industry, conducted its international operations through WII and that they were both employees of WII. Steph admitted that beginning in approximately late 2003, he conspired with others to make a series of corrupt payments totaling more than $6 million to various Nigerian officials and officials from a Nigerian political party to assist Willbros in obtaining and retaining the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) Project, which was valued at approximately $387 million.


Steph also admitted that in early 2005, he, along with former WII executive Brown and others, arranged for the payment of approximately $1.8 million in cash to government officials in Nigeria to further the conspiracy. Steph admitted that in order to make these payments, he obtained $550,000 in cash from another co-conspirator for the purpose of paying that money to Nigerian government officials. He also admitted that he obtained approximately $350,000 from a petty cash account, which was raised over several weeks by falsely inflating petty cash funding requests transmitted to Willbros and by covering the inflated amounts with invoices from fictitious vendors representing purportedly legitimate business expenses.


Brown admitted that in early 2005, he conspired with others to pay bribes to government officials in Nigeria for the purpose of retaining the EGGS Project. Brown admitted that to further this conspiracy, he, with the assistance of others, obtained a suitcase filled with $1 million in cash from WII's German construction company partner, which Brown then paid to another co-conspirator for the purpose of forwarding that money to Nigerian government officials.


Brown also admitted that in at least 1996 and continuing through at least 2004, he conspired with others to negotiate lower federal and state tax obligations in exchange for corrupt, "under the table" payments to Nigerian revenue officials, including officials responsible for auditing and enforcing taxes, for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business and for securing an improper advantage. Brown admitted he also conspired with others to make corrupt payments to officials of the Nigerian judicial system in exchange for favorable action on pending cases, for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business and for securing an improper advantage.


Additionally, Brown admitted to making at least $300,000 in corrupt payments to Ecuadorian government officials affiliated with PetroEcuador and PetroCommercial, for the purpose of obtaining and retaining business for Willbros, WII and others, including the Proyecto Santo Domingo project. In connection with the Ecuador transaction, Brown and others agreed to pay $150,000 to the Ecuadorian officials up front and $150,000 at the project's conclusion.


To date, in addition to Steph and Brown, the prosecution in this matter also includes:


On Nov. 12, 2009, former WII consultant Paul Novak pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one substantive count of violating the FCPA, in connection with his role in paying bribes to Nigerian government officials. Novak's sentencing is currently scheduled for July 9, 2010.


On Dec. 19, 2008, an indictment was unsealed against former Willbros executive Kenneth Tillery, charging him with conspiring to make more than $6.3 million in bribe payments to Nigerian and Ecuadoran officials; two individual counts of violating the FCPA in connection with the authorization of specific corrupt payments to officials in those countries; and one count of conspiring to launder the bribe payments through purported consulting companies. He remains a fugitive.


On May 14, 2008, Willbros entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $22 million criminal penalty, in connection with the company's payment of bribes to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador.


This case was prosecuted by Assistant Chief Hank Bond Walther and Trial Attorney Laura N. Perkins of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office squad that specializes in investigations of FCPA violations.


Source: U.S. Department of Justice

CONTACT: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs,
+1-202-514-2007, TDD +1-202-514-1888


Web Site: http://www.justice.gov/


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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Corruption and Strangulation of Nigerian Youth by the NYSC




The Corruption and Strangulation of Nigerian Youth by the NYSC


Youths obey the clarion call
Let us lift our nation high
Under the sun or in the rain
With dedication and selflessness
Nigeria is ours, Nigeria we serve
.

This is the first stanza of the National Youth Service Corp(NYSC) anthem.

Looking closely to the words of the anthem, it exhibits the willingness of the great Nigerian youth who invariably would become the future leaders of our country to obey the call to serve his fatherland selflessly, but that’s not the case.

What is now obtained is the corruption of the mind of the great Nigerian Youth. How, you may ask? I will tell you. You may be aware of the fact that money changes hands and favors are obtained to influence the posting of the prospective corps members to what is called the “STATES OF MILK AND HONEY” where there are better opportunities in the sense that the availability of white collar jobs are higher than in other states. These most sought after states include Lagos, Abuja, Rivers, and Bayelsa, but this is not the end. After securing the posting to any of these so called “milk and honey” states, more money changes hands and more favors are granted to post the corps members to lucrative companies, such as banks or oil companies that pay well. The ideology is that the more you have, the better your placement. This is a country that is breathing fire and brimstone on corrupt practices, but embedding it knowingly in the minds of the future leaders of the country.

One may ask why the craze for better employment opportunities? The answer is simply the inability of the scheme to pay corps members sufficiently. The monthly allowance of a corps member is N9, 770 (about $90) only. If you get lucky to get posted to an organization that pays sufficiently, you may get from N8, 000 – N40, 000, excluding the allowance from the Federal Government, but if you are unlucky, you get stuck with the regular N9, 770. From this meager allowance, you are expected to feed, transport and accommodate yourself, because most of the employers do not provide accommodation and to worsen the case, this petty cash allowance is not even paid on time.
Let us break this down logically. You are posted to teach at a school in Ojo suburb of Lagos state and this is your first time in Lagos and no form of accommodation is provided. You are lucky to have a friend that resides in Ikoyi, but he daily transport fare is N500 and approximately N10, 000 monthly. How are you expected to feed, bathe, clothe and transport yourself to the NYSC Secretariat, pay the small levies imposed and other activities??? It often makes one wonder if its self-service or government imposed slavery?

This is a very serious issue that needs looking into.
Accommodation and transportation are important things that are very necessary for a corps member during the service year and the government should look for ways to lessen the burden of corps members.

Nigerian Youths do not deserve to be subjected to this form of physical, psychological and social trauma. It can be authoritatively said that the government is nurturing a corrupt and mentally broken-down youth in Nigeria.


By AI, A NYSCorps member serving in Lagos, Nigeria.
October, 2008.

Editor’s Statement: Nigerians Report is committed to reporting the truth without fear or partiality for the common good of humanity.

Every evil begins with a lie and the only way to get rid of evils is to expose all the lies of the devils in our midst no matter their rank and file without apologies or regrets.


Thursday, August 6, 2009

Former Congressman William J. Jefferson Convicted of Bribery, Racketeering, Money Laundering and Other Related Charges


Mr. William J. Jefferson

6 Aug 2009 00:43 Africa/Lagos

Former Congressman William J. Jefferson Convicted of Bribery, Racketeering, Money Laundering and Other Related Charges

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A federal jury today convicted former United States Congressman William J. Jefferson, 62, of New Orleans, La., of using his office to corruptly solicit bribes, the Justice Department announced.


After hearing evidence for more than one month in a federal court in Alexandria, Va., a jury found Jefferson guilty on 11 charged counts, including solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering and conspiracy. Jefferson was acquitted on three counts of honest services wire fraud, an obstruction of justice charge and of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the verdict and scheduled sentencing for Oct. 30, 2009. Jefferson faces a maximum penalty of 150 years in prison and the jury will reconvene tomorrow to address whether he will additionally face forfeiture of up to $456,000 plus stock certificates.


"We have been reminded today that we are a nation of laws, and not men," said Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "It should be a clear signal that no public official -- and certainly not a U.S. Congressman -- can put their office up for sale and betray that office. It cannot be tolerated. It cannot just be another cost of doing business. And today, a jury of his peers held Congressman Jefferson accountable for his actions."


"Trust and integrity in public officials is at the heart of our democracy," said Joseph Persichini Jr., Assistant Director of the Washington Field Office of the FBI. "What a better way to ensure those virtues, than to expose those who breach that trust. I am proud of the fantastic team of career prosecutors, agents and analysts who worked long hours to provide the facts and evidence which resulted in this just conclusion today."


According to evidence at trial, from August 2000 to August 2005 Jefferson used his position as an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives to corruptly seek, solicit and direct that things of value be paid to himself and his family members in exchange for his performance of official acts to advance the interests of people and businesses who offered him the bribes. The things of value, according to evidence at trial, included hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes in the form of payments from monthly fees or retainers, consulting fees, percentage shares of revenues and profits, flat fees for items sold and stock ownership in the companies seeking his official assistance.


Evidence at trial showed that Jefferson performed a wide range of official acts in return for things of value, including leading official business delegations to Africa, corresponding with U.S. and foreign government officials, and utilizing congressional staff members to promote businesses and businesspersons. The business ventures that Jefferson sought to promote included telecommunications deals in Nigeria, Ghana and elsewhere; oil concessions in Equatorial Guinea; satellite transmission contracts in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo; and development of different plants and facilities in Nigeria.


Others involved in this scheme included Vernon L. Jackson, a Louisville, Ky., businessman who was sentenced to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and the payment of bribes to a public official; and Brett M. Pfeffer, a former Jefferson congressional staff member who was sentenced to 96 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and aiding and abetting the solicitation of bribers by a member of Congress.


This case is being prosecuted by Mark D. Lytle and Rebeca H. Bellows, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Charles E. Duross of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section. The case is being investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office, with assistance of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.


Source: U.S. Department of Justice

CONTACT: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs,
+1-202-514-2007, TDD +1-202-514-1888


Web Site: http://www.usdoj.gov/