ERHC Energy Inc (ERHE)

[Homeport]

NG News: Why FBI delayed Jefferson's indictment until after Nigeria's election
- x The Guardian -

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar's name has been left out of an indictment in a U.S. corruption scandal involving an American Congressman, William Jefferson with which he had been previously linked. Before Monday's announcement, when The Guardian asked the FBI for an update on the case as it involved Abubakar, FBI's Teresa Carlson, an Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge said the agency could not talk about an investigation that was then pending. FBI sources suggested that the indictment announcement may have been held until after the April elections in order not to allow the investigation to influence the Nigerian elections in anyway since the former VP was a candidate. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer had last year commented that the FBI investigation was conducted on the U.S. Congressman and not against the then Nigerian Vice President. Charges against Jefferson are coming almost two years after investigators raided Jefferson's home in Washington and found $90,000 in cash stuffed in a box in his freezer. The indictment by a federal court in Alexandria, Va., lists 16 alleged violations with potential prison terms totaling as much as 235 years. Jefferson is charged with racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. In the US, an indictment is to indicate a formal accusation, which pushes the case to a court of law. An indictment does not presume the guilt of an indictee. Jefferson is the first incumbent congressman to face charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits corporate bribery overseas. He is now being formally accused of soliciting bribes from 11 different companies for himself and his family, and also of bribing a Nigerian official.