The charges stem from a case involving as much as $180 million allegedly paid in bribes to Nigerian officials, said Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Halliburton and other firms allegedly paid the bribes to win a contract to build a $6 billion liquefied natural gas plant in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta, he said.
…
Babafemi declined to comment when asked how likely it was that Cheney would be extradited to Nigeria over the charges.
“We are following the laws of the land. We want to follow the laws and see where it will go,” the spokesman said. “We’re very convinced by the time the trial commences, we’d make application for appropriate court orders to be issued.”
For more on the “very awkward position” the U.S. may soon find itself in regarding the possible legal requirement of sending Cheney to Nigeria, with whom we have a long-standing extradition treaty, see our story from last Friday quoting Constitutional law profession Jonathan Turley on this rather interesting turn of events.
No doubt there are plenty of diplomatic cables flying around on this between the U.S. and Nigerian governments right about now. Let’s hope someone shares them with WikiLeaks soon.
OT – Bertha Lewis, former ACORN CEO:
“[After] beating us to death, right now, it’s not enough that ‘we won, we beat ACORN, we beat them down, the largest community group’…now, we’ve become political necrophiliacs. Not only did we kill this organization, but we’re going to dig them up, and we’re going to have all kinds of congress with the corpse, over and over again. So political necrophiliacs like Beck, like Murdoch, like Fox, like Limbaugh, like Mr. Breitbart,they should be called out for what they really are. They’re carrion eaters, they’re nasty, they’re evil, they’re liars, thieves and cheaters.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/acorn-lewis-beck-necrophiliac_n_793224.html
Oh yeah, THAT (Cheney actually standing trial ANYWHERE for ANY of his lifetime of crimes) is about as likely as Wikileaks being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (which they deserve).
Nigeria has more guts then Spain?
That’s going to leave a mark.
I wonder what Barack Obama will do. The suspense is killing me.
A quick google search shows that out of 159 countries rated for corruption, 1 being least corrupt and 159 being most corrupt, Nigeria comes in at *drum roll* 153. Perhaps Cheney didn’t bribe the right people… dumbass…
sorry: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/gov_cor-government-corruption
Thanks for that info Wingnut. Very interesting.
So…Canada and Western Europe….happiest, healthiest, most satisfied with their governments, most politically active populations (riots in France over retirement age!), and now…
least corrupt (and don’t forget most highly taxed.)
Lovin’ it!
But that’s probably too many dots to connect for the average teabagger.
The problem with your link, WingnutSteve, as it fails to account for the role of U.S.-based, multinational corporations, like Cheney’s Halliburton, as the source of Third World corruption. When that is factored in, U.S.-based corporate hegemony becomes the prime source of corruption.
You might try reading an insider account, like John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
Ahh yes, Halliburton. The source of corruption throughout Africa, no.. likely throughout the world, can be traced of course to Halliburton….
and bottom line is it’s all the U.S. and their evil corporations fault
Lame, Wingnut Steve.
Because you can’t defend your position, your marginalize the entire affair, even though both Halliburton and their subsidiary KBR agreed to a $579 million settlement with the SEC concerning their Nigerian bribes of $182 million over 10 years in exchange for $6 billion worth of contracts for “violating the federal law banning companies from paying bribes to get business in foreign countries,” as reported by the Washington Post (and others).
But, by all means, make as little of that as you can because, um, I dunno, you support corporate corruption by U.S. outfits run by the former Vice-President or something? Sigh…
My “position” is to point out the irony of one of the most corrupt countries known to man indicting a foreign leader for corruption.
Halliburton already paid a steep price for playing the game, the price you pay to do business in a country where corruption is the way of life.
So Steve, are you saying that if the level of corruption in Nigeria is high, that made it okay for Cheney to take part in it?
I’m having some trouble understanding the sliding scale of your morality.
Oops! I forgot. IOKIYAR.
I realize you may have trouble understanding Ernie. Please use dictionary.com if necessary to figure out what “irony” means, that’s what I pointed out.
Then I got a little sarcastic about your blame America bit. Didn’t mean to start any brouhaha about that, my bad.