Officials in the African nation want to try Cheney for his alleged role in a bribe scandal in which Halliburton-owned company KBR gave $180 million to Nigerian officials between 1994 and 2004 in exchange for lucrative natural gas contracts.
Cheney was KBR’s CEO between 1995 and 2000, when he stepped down to run with George W. Bush. KBR and Halliburton pled guilty to the charges last year, and paid a whopping $579 million fine, but this latest development calls Cheney’s direct actions into question, and the Nigerians are dead set on getting justice.
We are filing charges against Cheney,” insisted Femi Babafemi, spokesman for Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Political implications of arresting a former vice president aside, Obama and company are presented with two choices.
First, it can ignore the warrant, thereby straining relations with resource-rich Nigeria, and also undercut its current leadership role in Interpol, which is currently headed by American Ronald Noble, who worked for the Treasury Department during Bill Clinton’s presidential tenure.
The second option: move forward and nab Cheney. This would only inflame the right wing, though, and not simply because of revered Cheney’s elevated status among the conservative set.
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/39134/d ... for-obama/
