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$195m contract deal: Three arrested for bribing Nigerian officials
Three top officials in a former Israel owned firm, Shipyards, have been arrested over suspicion of bribing Nigerian officials to enable them secured a maritime defence contract worth $195 million.
The officials are suspected of bribing a Nigerian public official in exchange for the company winning a tender to provide the Africa’s largest economy with warships, according to a report published by Times of Israel.
The investigation was made public when police officers raided Israel Shipyards’ offices in the Port of Haifa and detained the officials for questioning under caution.
They are suspected of bribing a foreign public official, false registration in corporate documents, fraud, money laundering, tax offenses and breaking a law that regulates security-related exports.
The probe was carried out by the police’s Lahav 433 anti-corruption unit along with the Israel Tax Authority.
International law enforcement bodies have also been involved in the probe, the police statement added.
Recall that in 2017, Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi revealed that the Federal Government had awarded a three-year contract for patrolling the nation’s maritime domain and training Nigerian military personnel on water security.
While defending the contract, Amaechi said some vested interests benefiting from illegality and insecurity in the nations waterways are those behind the call for cancellation of the $195 million maritime security contract.
According to him, “There are too many interests that are benefiting from illegality and insecurity. They are the people fighting it. Give Israeli and Nigeria six months, the water will be free from any form of crime. Some people want the killing and the piracy to continue so that they can be making more money to the detriment of the Nigerian people, but we will not allow that.”
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petition had last week recommended an outright cancellation of the contract, which it said would lead to a capital flight of over $200 million.
The committee had also demanded that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) should stop funding the contract immediately as it was not appropriated by lawmakers.
