When Ghana Vice President Aliu Mahama, Nigerian Counterpart Were Linked to a US Corruption Scandal

• An FBI corruption investigation into US Congressman William Jefferson drew in senior government officials from both Ghana and Nigeria in 2005
• The officials were named amid the investigation into a broadband telecommunications deal involving the US legislator
• Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar's Maryland residence was raided by FBI agents in August 2005 as part of the same probe

In 2005, high-ranking officials in Ghana and Nigeria were rocked by the links to a high-profile corruption case in the US that lasted almost five years.

The FBI corruption probe of then US Rep. William Jefferson was on whether he made or approved payments to officials in West Africa

The probe brought up the name of then Nigerian Vice President Abubakar Atiku.

On the Ghana front, the Vice President of the time, Alhaji Aliu Mahama; and the son of President John Kufuor, Edward Kufuor, came up amid the investigations.

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Joy News reported at the time that Mahama dismissed the allegations and explained that he had met the American legislator and a delegation of five top Americans together with former Communications Minister Albert Kan-Dapaah as part of his normal functions.

The Americans were pursuing the establishment of a proposed project to provide high-speed Internet services over the existing copper telephone wire infrastructure of the now-defunct Ghana Telecom.

Jefferson is said to have written to then Ghana's Ambassador, Fritz Kwabena Poku, on June 28, 2005, informing the latter about a project, which was to involve an investment of approximately US$25 million over five years.

Matters were more sensational on the Nigerian end, where the FBI raided the Maryland residence of Atiku Abubakar on August 3, 2005.

Al Jazeera reported that the FBI agents were looking for records indicating whether Jefferson paid, offered to pay or authorised payments to Nigerian or Ghanaian government officials.

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Agents were seeking documents related to Jefferson’s dealings with Abubakar and Mahama.

Jefferson had returned from a five-day visit to Ghana in mid-July, about three weeks before the FBI raided his homes.

The subpoenas focused partly on a telecommunications deal Jefferson was trying to engineer in Nigeria.

According to The Times-Picayune, sources familiar with the telecommunications deal said Jefferson was attempting to smooth the way for iGate Corp., a small Kentucky company, to offer its high-speed broadband technology to Nigeria’s fast-growing telecommunications market.

On June 4, 2007 Jefferson was indicted on 16 charges of corruption by a federal grand jury. On June 8, 2007, Jefferson pleaded not guilty to the charges. On August 5, 2009, Jefferson was convicted on 11 of the 16 corruption charges against him.

Source: YEN.com.gh