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Even if the House of Representatives Committee probe might have come to a dead end, it would seem that the controversy surrounding the alleged $180 million bribe to Nigerian officials over the NLNG Contract will just not go away. According to a recent story in the Associated Press, Halliburton has admitted that an internal investigation has found that a consortium it later took over had once considered bribing Nigerian officials to win an energy contract. "Documents found during the investigation of the $180 million bribery scandal suggested the payments were discussed at least 10 years ago, before Halliburton took the lead of the multinational business group TSKJ". But the probe, according to a statement by Halliburton has, however, not found evidence confirming that any such payments were ever made.

Whatever the statement from the company whose Vice President for the Nigerian operations also spoke extensively with THISDAY on the issue at the weekend, the jury is now out in France where a magistrate is looking into the allegations that bribes were offered to several Nigerian politicians and public officials to secure the NLNG Train 1 contract awarded in 1995 to four partners: N.W. Kellog co, a subsidiary of Dresser Industries; Technip SA of France; ENI of Italy and Japanese Gasoline Corp.

The whole controversy started when a French magistrate launched an inquiry into allegations that one of the firms, KRB, paid $180 million to Nigerian government officials to win contracts for the construction of the first-two trains of the Nigeria Liquefied Gas (NLG) Project in the 1990s. This was followed by another probe of the TSKJ consortium by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last June. Halliburton has insisted on its innocence while maintaining that the alleged bribing of Nigerian officials occurred before its acquisition of KBR.

The man at the centre of the whole controversy is a London based consultant, Mr Jeffrey Tesler who, by his own testimony, has for three decades been the personal adviser of many Nigerian businessmen, military officers and politicians while also serving as a consultant to many firms operating within our country. "As a result, his advice may well have been crucial in deciding what strategy to adopt during the negotiation of contracts, and contributed to the success of the joint venture in obtaining and carrying out three successive major project" said Mr Gory, a senior Technip executive who admits to having been involved in negotiating the contracts with Tesler. He described him as a London lawyer who has an office in Lagos.

According to Mr Kranimer, Tesler's job basically consisted of "providing a permanent flow of information on (events in) Nigeria and on the strategies of the Nigerian government and administration, providing the client with commercial follow-up and continuity and supplying logistical and administrative assistance on site."

If his testimony before the French magistrate were any clue, then it goes without saying that there is hardly anybody that is somebody in Nigeria that Tesler has not at one point or the other dealt with even when he has only been to the country once. He for instance has served as a middle man to several retired Generals and former public officials as can be deduced from this court transcript:

Question: It appears that an account was opened with UE3P Geneva on 9 October 1991 and closed 9 July 2000 in the name of Mr. Olufemi Ademola, account for which you have a power of attorney. Is it the same person?

Tesler: The family name is missing but it is the same person. It is very normal for a lawyer to have a power of attorney on an account in case the other signatory is indisposed. Certain clients do not wish for their wife or their children to manage their funds. He is a client.

Question: You therefore have a power of attorney on accounts opened in Switzerland by Nigerian personalities?

Tesler: I would not call them personalities. He has been retired for 25 years. As far as Anthill Corporation (D 300) is concerned, this account was opened with UBP in Geneva by General Mamman Vatsa who was assassinated while he was in charge of an attempted coup d'Ｕat in 1984-1985. The account was opened sometime before. I never put any money in it. I paid the costs of the registration of this company. I then used it for myself. He wanted an account with UBP in Geneva, and I opened the account Anthill Corporation after having created this company. I suppose that he wanted to deposit money or to invest in real estate or to do business using this account but he was killed before his coup d'Ｕat in which he aimed to be Chief of State, this is what he was accused of, was foiled. There was a secret trial regarding him as well as the other persons and he was accused of being the leader of this attempted coup d'Ｕat because he was the highest ranking officer. He was a superior officer.

Question: Why did he contact you in order to open this account with UBP just before his attempted aborted coup d'Ｕat?

Tesler: Because since 1977, a period of which I started to work in Nigeria, I was the advisor of several important businessmen including a certain number of members of the Government. There was him, the Chief of staff of the navy, the Chief of staff of the air force and a large number of officers who came to the War School in London because at the time it had a very good reputation. A large number of these officers asked me advices on all of their affairs. Not only commercia1 but also everyday (school, doctors, etc). Many had children in London, had healthcare, their wives lived and shopped in England. They are English speakers and it is a former English colony.

Question: The document under D 301/4 clearly shows that you had an account with UBP in London which was functioning in 1996 and 1997. In the light of this document, do you remember the existence of this account?

Tesler: I believe that I had a signature on an account at UBP in London but the confusion of this morning regarding this account is due to the fact that I do not know if it was an account which was opened in my own name or in the name of a company. As I said, I will write to the bank.

Question: Who is Muhammadu Dikko Yusufu whose account opened with UBP in London was credited 25'000 dollars on I l/08/1998 and 50'000 dollars on 25/02/l997?

Tesler: I authorized UBP Geneva to transfer these amounts to UBP in London in order that he would withdraw these funds. He was a high ranking public servant in the Nigerian police. He was President of the NLNG (a consortium which unites petroleum producers in Nigeria that is to say Shell, ELF and AGIP). It was the contracting partner of TSKJ. NNPC is a national Nigerian petroleum company which holds 49 % of NLNG. He was President of NLNG in 1995 and 1996.

Question: Why did you pay him?

Tesler: He came to London. He told me that he did not have any money and he asked me to lend him some. On this occasion I lent him the money.

Question: Did you sign a lending contract?

Tesler: No.

Question: Why?

Tesler: One does not do that; it is someone whom 1 know.

Question: Was it a gift?

Tesler: No, that was not at all my intention.

Question: Did he reimburse you?

Tesler: No.

Question: Did he give you any guarantees?

Tesler: No, he told me that he would reimburse me but he did not do it. It was an act of generosity on my part

Question: Does Mr. Yusufu have an account with UBP in London?

Tesler: not to my knowledge but I do not know.

For his efforts on the NLNG deals, Tesler was paid in four instalments that have become subject of an international enquiry:

$60 million for the first contract (20 March 1995)

$37.5 million for the second contract (18 March 1999)

$51 million for the third (24 December 2001)

$23 million for the fourth (28 June 2002).

It is from these sums of money that Tesler was able to dispense favours but another central character in the whole controversy, Alhaji MD Yusufu, who was at that period the NLNG Chairman, has given his own side of the story. While testifying before the House Committee two weeks ago, Yusufu had denied collecting any dirty money from TSKJ Consortium believed to have facilitated the bribe to Nigeria officials. He, however, admitted that the principal promoter, Tesler had at various times advanced him some monies before and after he became chairman of the LNG and after he was removed.

Yusufu said the monies were loans and part of it he had repaid. "I was in London and needed money and he gave me as loan. Sometimes I pay back and sometimes I don't. We have been friends for long. Sometimes one thousand pound, sometimes two thousand pounds", he had told the House Committee. He, however, admitted that both Tesler and Mr. Gilbert Chagouri were old time acquaintances, but that neither tried to influence him to award the LNG contract to TSKJ. Asked if the money he took from Tesler was not meant to influence his judgment on who should get the $2.9 billion contract, Yusufu shook his head and simply replied, "No".

He said that since he was taking orders from the Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha, he tried his best to get the best for the country and stemmed the prolonged delay in the project take off. But in the course of his deposition in before the French magistrate probing the matter, Tesler admitted once advancing to Yusufu the sum of $75,000 which both has now said to be a repayable loan. In a paper prepared for THISDAY, Yusufu gave a detailed account of how the money came about and his take on the whole scandal. But first he tells the story of how the whole controversy started:

"I was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, by the then Head of State Chief Ernest Shonekan in 1993. The Secretary for Petroleum (i.e. Minister) then was Chief Don Etiebet who worked tirelessly to see that the project took off. Legal and financial obstacles that created bottlenecks were removed and guarantees, assurances and special fiscal incentives were facilitated to enhance a favourable climate for our partners to invest the much money needed for the project to take off. He re-launched the project within about three months of my appointment as the Chairman of the Board.

"The shareholding of Nigeria lNG Limited is 51% foreign and 49% Nigerian as follows: NNPC (49%); Shell (25.6%); Agip (15%) and Elf (10.4%) effectively making it a non-parastatal. There were two groups of companies competing for the job namely (a) Bechtel (USA), Spibat (France), Chiyoda (Japan) and Ansaldo (Italian) or BSCA for short (b) Technip (France), Snanprogetti (Italian), Kellog (USA) and JGC (Japan) TSKJ for short.

"The first attempt to award the contract in 1992 was aborted. Both consortia were again invited to bid, but on this occasion they insisted on reimbursement of US$8m towards bid preparation. Shell was appointed Technical Adviser to Nigeria LNG because of its considerable experience and direct involvement in several LNG projects.

"In September 1994, the Board of NLNG, of which I was the Chairman, awarded a lump sum turn key contract for Engineering, Procurement and Construction of the Natural Gas liquefaction Plant etc to TSKJ because their tender price was about US$l50million lower than that of BSCA. And this was after a rigorous scrutiny of the two tenders by NLNG Technical Adviser and the Technical Committee of the Board made up of representatives of all the shareholders.

"The decision of the Board was unanimous. Neither General Abacha nor Chief Etiebet the Minister of Petroleum had any influence on us for that decision. I know Gilbert Chagoury, Eli Calil and Jeffrey Tesler for many years before the LNG project but none of them had any influence on me in that decision. The board took the unanimous decision on the basis of cost. The Management of the company was very strict and professional and ensured that the company (and the country) got the best for the money spent on the project.

"What gave rise to this inquiry by this Committee (Public Petition Committee of the House of Representatives) appears to be a dispute within the TSKJ on what company or sub company to set up or which of them will do which of the job and how much money each will get. Neither the Board nor the Management of the company, since the award of the turn key contract had anything to do with that internal equable of the consortium."

On his relationship with Tesler, Yusufu told THISDAY that they have been friends for more than two decades: "I have known Tesler since the 1980's as a friend. Over the years we have related as friends. As friends, Mr Tesler has borrowed money from me in the past and I too had borrowed from him. One of such occasions is the 75,000 dollars loan he gave to me while I was visiting London, 50,000 dollars in 1997 and 25,000 in 1998. These are three and four years respectively, after the NLNG contract had been awarded. Like him too, some of these loans are paid and some are still pending.

"Was I supposed to use 75,000 dollars loan to influence 3 Billion Dollars contract that had already been awarded anyway? Or was I supposed to distribute the loan amongst members of the board and the members of the technical committee? You see, in our haste to shout Judas, we are not patient enough to get to the bottom of this matter. Couldn't this be a case of some international smart alecs who are capitalising on the widely held notion that Nigeria is a corrupt nation, to swindle their home countries or companies, of monies purportedly meant for bribes to Nigeria?"

But even with this defence, Yusufu was not altogether certain that nobody took any bribe only that he would vouch for himself and the integrity of his Board: "I cannot categorically say that no Nigerian or no one took bribe from Tesler's organisation nor can I say that no such an amount (180 million dollars) was voted for bribes by these organisations. But what I do know for sure is that no one within and outside our NLNG Board or the Technical Committee influenced the decision to award the turn-key contract to TSKJ. Not even the then late Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, who I was later told was not interested in confronting my policy of non-government interference in the NLNG. What I advise is patience, patience to watch the events in the USA and France Courts, unfold."

As to what influenced the choice of contractor, Yusufu said it was based on International Due Intelligent Procedure. "Don't forget that this was not a Nigerian board. We have NNPC (Holding Nigeria's Interest) 49%, Shell (25.6%), Total Fina (15%) and Agip International (10.4%). Shell was additionally appointed by the Ministry of Petroleum as the Technical Adviser to the project. The board and the technical committee adjudged the two companies very competent to execute the project.

"What eventually separated one company from the other in this case, TSKJ from BSCA, became cost differences. TSKJ quotation in this instance was 150 million dollars less than that of BSCA. On this, the decision of the board was unanimous. Please note that LNG Services a subsidiary form by TSKJ and Jefrey Teslers's Tristar, a consultant a consultancy of LNG Services all came into being from records, after we had signed and sealed the contracts."

Going back memory lane, Yusufu gave the reason why he accepted the job in the first place: "Let me say categorically here, that the only reason I accepted this job (Chairman NLNG) was because the then Head of State of the Interim Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan who appointed me, agreed with me that there would be completely non-interference from government. From records, I had seen that the greatest set back from the NLNG projects over the years was excessive government interferences. It was infact the realisation of this that made government to disinvest considerably from their monopoly on the project. So from the on-set I was clear in my mind that this was not another government parastatal, taking orders from the ministry."

Notwithstanding Yusufu's defence, however, the stories emanating from the court of Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke who is trying to identify the beneficiaries of the 180 millions dollars 'commission' is that many Nigerian public officials collected money. And that this influenced the bidding process "for a gas complex construction contract in Nigeria for an amount estimated at three times that of Iraq."