Siemens Scandal

President Yar'Adua has vowed to sanction ex-ministers if they are found guilty. I wonder what can of sanction this is going to be.
Can't the ministry involved or the FG take the Ministers to court and throw them in jail if found guilty? I am sure the president will probably ask them to return the money if they are found guilty. These people always get preferential treatment no matter what.
Lets see how "Mr Rule of Law" will handle this"

Check out this report from Vanguard
Nigeria: Siemens - Yar'Adua Vows to Sanction Ex-Ministers If...

PRESIDENT Umaru Yar'Adua vowed, yesterday, to punish anyone found to have collected bribes from the German telecommunications company, Siemens AG, and declared that there would be no sacred cow.

A Munich court had named four former Nigerian Ministers of Communications Cornelius Adebayo, the late Haruna Elewi, Tajudeen Olanrewaju and Bello Muhammad- as well as other officials and chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Professor Jubril Aminu, as having received bribes of about 10 million euros from the company..

Professor Aminu, Dr. Mohammed, and General Olanrewaju have denied their involvement in the scandal.

The opposition Action Congress (AC) reacting to the development called it a national disgrace "coming so soon after full disclosures from the Wilbros bribery scandal also involving Nigeria officials have yet to be made.

The party said time was ripe for the Yar'Adua administration to "summon courage to probe the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo which has been spewing out these scandals like lava from a volcanic eruption.

President Yar'Adua in a statement by his Special Adviser on Communicators, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, said relevant security agencies had been directed to "thoroughly investigate the allegations and take appropriate actions.

In the statement issued in Saudi Arabia where the president, is attending this year's OPEC meeting, Mr Adeniyi said:

"The attention of President Umaru Musa Yar'dua has been drawn to media reports of the alleged bribery by an international Telecoms company (Siemens) of some past Nigerian public officials and wishes to assure the nation that anybody found culpable in the scandal would face the full wrath of the law.

"The President has, therefore, directed all the relevant security agencies to thoroughly investigate the allegations and take appropriate legal actions against anybody implicated in corrupt practices.

"The President also wishes to assure all Nigerians that in the new nation that we seek to build under his watch, any public official found to have abused his or her oath of office will not go unpunished.

"The President further assures that in this Siemens scandal, as in all cases that border on good governance and transparency, there will neither be sacred cows nor a cover up for anybody found culpable of breaching the law."

Mohammed denies alleged bribe

However, Dr Bello Mohammed, a former Communications Minister, yesterday denied knowledge of the alleged bribe of public officers by Siemens AG.

Mr Emeka Kanu, Media Adviser to Mohammed, in a statement said his boss was innocent of the allegation.

The allegation, according to him. was not only "strange and bewildering, but malicious, libellous and wicked evil designs by his political opponents."

He stated that the former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service and PDP chieftain, never met one Mr Reinhard Siekaczek mentioned in the court process.

"As for Mr Siedel, we can firmly say Dr Mohammed has had no personal relationship with him other than at the official level as Minister of Communications," he said.

Kanu said Mohammed, the PDP National Vice Chairman (North-West), had never received any amount in bribe from any of the persons mentioned in the case.

Mohammed, who paid glowing tributes to his admirers and supporters, said he had contacted his lawyers for necessary counselling.

Senator Aminu and Gen. Olanrewaju had earlier also denied their involvement and challenged those behind the allegations to show proof.