Nigeria to investigate Siemens bribes scandal

Nigeria will investigate five ex-ministers and other senior officials named as recipients of 10 million euros ($14.6 million) in bribes from industrial group Siemens in a German court ruling, the presidency said. A Munich court fined Siemens 201 million euros on October 4 for bribes paid to Nigerian, Russian and Libyan officials by a former manager of one of the group's telecommunications equipment units. Details were not made public at the time.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported details of the court ruling. It said most of the bribes, about 10 million euros, went to Nigerians including the five ex-ministers. The names and sums involved were widely reported in the Nigerian press over the weekend, and President Umaru Yar'Adua reacted by saying he had ordered security agencies to investigate and take appropriate legal action.

"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," said a statement issued yesterday in Saudi Arabia, where he was attending an OPEC meeting.

The opposition Action Congress party called the Siemens scandal "a national disgrace" and urged Yar'Adua to act quickly.

Nigerian newspapers today quoted several of the ex-ministers named in the German ruling as denying that they took bribes.

Siemens was not immediately available for comment.

The company has said that it accepted the October 4 verdict. Yar'Adua took office on May 29 promising zero tolerance for corruption in one of the world's most tainted countries, but his message has been undermined by a series of scandals.