by Isi Esene

President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, to locate the whereabouts of the $26.5m plea bargain money paid by the construction company, Julius Berger, and returned to the police by next week.

It was gathered that there were conflicting signals coming out from Julius Berger, office of the accountant general of the federation and the Police investigators on the true position and location of the said money.

Some say the money was in the custody of the accountant general’s office, while other accounts indicate the money is in safekeeping at the AGF’s office, with the police appearing not to have an idea of how the money ‘migrated’.

Julius Berger one of the companies indicted in the Halliburton $180 million bribery scandal had opted for a plea bargain in order to be spared the prosecution process following the conclusion of the 5-man inter-agency investigation panel headed by the Inspector General of Police.

Some analysts are of the view that claims of payment of the plea-bargain money by Julius Berger might be a mirage after-all citing previous experiences of similar underhand deals between influential business concerns and corrupt government officials.

Of all the major suspects indicted in the Police investigation reports, only the former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to former President Obasanjo who admitted to collecting $6million from former GMD of NNPC, Chief Jackson Gaius Obaseki was charged to court  and since 2010, the trial has been ongoing.

The case was said to have been reopened due to the insistence of the United States government that the government of Nigeria must as a matter of urgency prosecute those found to be indicted in the alleged bribery scandal. The US reportedly refused to the release the balance of the money which is said to have been lodged in an American bank.

The US government had implied that the Nigerian government has been paying lip service to fighting corruption indicating it was not serious in its fight.

The only condition given to release the money was the immediate prosecution of all those top shots including Julius Berger that were indicted in the bribery scandal.