Nigeria Drops Bribery Charges Against Former Vice President Dick Cheney

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: ABC News

The Nigerian government has dropped bribery charges against former Vice President Dick Cheney after Halliburton agreed to pay Nigeria $250 million dollars in fines.

The charges were filed Dec. 7 and center around Cheney's activities as the chief executive of Halliburton and its one-time subsidiary KBR before he became the vice president in 2001. Last year both companies pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices act by paying more than $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials prior to 2007. The companies were fined $579 million, the largest fine ever paid under the act.

A spokesman for Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Femi Babafemi, told ABC News that the charges were dropped after the company agreed to the settlement, which includes the company forfeiting some of the $130 million dollars currently frozen in Swiss accounts.

The head of Nigeria's anti-corruption body says the country charged Cheney with bribery to send the message: "Nobody is above the laws of the land."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/nigeria-drops-bribery-charges-dick-cheney/story?id=12440856

[Ian David]

1. I just got a letter from Dick Cheney's lawyer in Nigeria URGING YOUR IMMEDATE ASSISTINCE! n/t

[sharesunited]

2. LOL!!! Does he need me to email my bank account info?

[Tempest]

3. They didn't drop the charges

They accepted hush money in order to make the charges go away.

[11 Bravo]

6. He bribed them to drop the bribery charges.

[louis-t]

8. That was my first thought. Two wrongs....

are the way of republicans.

[arcane1]

4. This is the problem with corporate control

Individual humans make these illegal choices, yet the fines are paid out of the company's pocket, thereby ensuring no human is punished for thier misdeeds.

[asjr]

5. Money still has a loud voice.

[truthisfreedom]

7. Hah. They accepted a bribe to drop the bribery charges.

Funny.

[hughee99]

9. What do you think Nigeria was really expecting to do?

Collect the fine or put Cheney in jail. I think this was goal from the get-go, they just had no leverage to get Halliburton to pay the fine without the charges.

[colbertforpresident]

10. Bribed again!

They paid a bribe to have bribery charges dropped!