We recently detailed the “very awkward position”, as Constitutional Law professor Jonathan Turley described it, that the U.S. could find itself in in regard to Nigeria’s indictment of Dick Cheney on bribery charges last week, considering the long-standing extradition treaty the U.S. holds with Nigeria. The allegations against Cheney include some $180 million in bribes said to have been paid in exchange for some $6 billion in contracts during his tenure as CEO of Halliburton.
So how might the U.S. government avoid that “very awkward position”? It appears Halliburton may be willing to pay some $500 million to Nigeria to help them do just that, according to the Global Post…
UPDATE: One point worth noting here is that we have recently learned, thanks to the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks and their media partners, that the U.S. Government has proven more than willing to step up to the plate to protect the Bush Administration from prosecution on charges related to torturing of citizens in a number of countries. The Bush Administration itself brought diplomatic pressure to stop investigations into CIA torture in Germany, according to information in those leaked cables, and even the Obama Administration stepped up to protect Bush officials from prosecution in Spain.
Where we now know they’ve been willing to do so in the past, thanks to the release of those cables, it seems perfectly reasonable to speculate that the Obama Administration would be willing, even eager, to apply similar pressure to Nigeria here in order to protect Cheney and to help avoid the “very awkward situation” the U.S. would find itself in with the issuance of an Interpol “red notice” requiring us to help “find” and then extradite the indicted Cheney to Nigeria.
To that end, no doubt the U.S. has much leverage, economic and otherwise, to bring to bear over a country like Nigeria to help “encourage” them to accept such a settlement of a half a billion dollars from Halliburton. Whether such settlements are legal under Nigerian law (as someone quoted in the linked article suggests they are not) is a different question, but one that I’d not be surprised to see ignored so that this matter can go away quickly. Hoping there’s someone out there whose willing to leak evidence of such diplomatic pressure when and if it is brought to bear. Which, of course, is just another reason why we need media organizations like WikiLeaks!
UPDATE 12/14/10: The reported $500 million settlement is now being reported as $250 million, according to a spokesperson from Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), even as Halliburton maintains “there is no legal basis for the charges.” The agreement would need to be ratified by the government, he says, with a decision on the deal expected by the end of the week. The statement comes after “Representatives for Cheney and Halliburton met with Nigerian officials in London over the weekend.”
This seems like a bit of an end-around, but I like this precedent. Which country is next in line to sue Dick Cheney? Iraq? Afghanistan? They both have better cases than little ol’ Nigeria, don’t they? Hell, maybe even Great Britain.
The Unitary Executive might be able prevent Americans from holding Dick Cheney accountable things like murder, torture, rape, kidnapping, illegal wiretapping, child molestation, fraud, and drunken lawyer shooting, but Barack Obama’s arrogant disregard for the law doesn’t seem to translate well overseas. Well, at least not when money is involved.
Dear Nigeria:
If you’re going to be bought, please hold out for at least $10 billion. To settle for less would be an outright insult to Dick, you know.
Doesn’t this proposed “settlement” sound like just more bribery? If I’m a Halliburton stockholder, how do I feel about this? It would be a lot cheaper for the government to hand Darth over to the Nigerians. Why should I pay for his past crimes? Shit, when it comes to the corporate bottom line, they’ll hand my job over to the Chinese in a heartbeat just to save 50K.
Billy, wouldn’t you think the President should be left out of this at this stage? His being proud, arrogant, stupid or whatever you think he is, or is not, has absolutely nothing to do with the matter. It is only appropriate for him to avoid any comments that could be construed influencing the direction of justice flow, at least for now. The accusers directed the charges to the judiciary system, not to President Obama. The former V.P. is more than able to answer to the charges for himself. He has the resources to afford the services of crack attorneys to deal with the situation.
Cosimo diRondo @3 wrote:
Since when has the management of American corporations, who routinely provide themselves with multimillion dollar bonus even when the corporation is losing money, give a hoot about the interests of ordinary stockholders?
Halliburton, if it can, will act to protect its former CEO because the current CEO may one day occupy Cheney’s shoes with respect to some future corporate corruption investigation.
Working class criminals go to jail. Rich criminals pay fines.
@Garden-City Boy
Should President Obama be left out of this at this stage? No way. Contrary to the nonsensical contentions Barack Obama adopted from George W. Bush, the most important part of his job is not to protect the American people; it’s to protect the Constitution — to enforce the laws of the land.
With respect to Richard Cheney, Barack Obama has decided to turn against the Constitution. Obama spends much of his time and all of his credibility obstructing justice for Cheney. He does so in the U.S. ongoingly. We recently learned he did so with respect to Spain. He’s probably doing so in the case of Nigeria.
Remember, Nixon’s worst crime was telling the CIA to tell the FBI not to investigate Watergate. Barack Obama does that ten times over every single day.
Since Haliburton is paying Cheney’s fine how does Cheney escape paying income tax on this benefit?
One day when Mr Cheney is reading his email, he will come across an email addressed to him from a vague govenrment authority claiming that Mr Cheney is the sole beneficiary of a large sum of money and a dozen oil fields which will be automatically relinquished to him in exchange for secret bank passwords. Mr Cheney will momentarily reflect and wonder to himself if that happens to be the same email he once sent to Iraq and Afghanistan officials a number of years ago?
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/12/dick-cheney-must-pay-nigeria-a-250-million-fine-or-go-to-jail/