The William Jefferson Files

Nigerian investigators pursuing a U.S. Department of Justice request to look at dealings between U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and leaders of the Western African nation have accused Nigeria Vice President Atiku Abubakar of diverting millions of dollars of public finds into private accounts.

Abubakar through aides denied the allegations Thursday, which are not directly connected to the U.S. probe of Jefferson, D-New Orleans.

Abubakar became publicly linked to the Jefferson investigation in August 2005, when FBI agents raided the vice president’s Maryland home at the same time they were searching Jefferson’s residences in Washington and New Orleans.
In an affidavit, the FBI said it expected to find $100,000 in marked bills that Jefferson had allegedly delivered to the vice president. The agents instead reported finding $90,000 of the cash jammed into the freezer of Jefferson’s Washington home. The remaining $10,000 was accounted for — half of it was given as a loan to a Jefferson staffer and the rest returned to the government by the congressman’s lawyers.

An FBI transcript of secretly recorded conversations between Jefferson and a cooperating witness, quotes the congressman as saying that bribes would have to paid to the vice president to help the Kentucky firm iGate Inc. win telecommunications contracts in Nigeria.

Jefferson and Abubakar both have denied that any bribes were paid. Jefferson has not been charged and has said he did nothing wrong.

Well, we have a better accounting of where the money came from and where it went, but why $90,000 was stuffed inside Jefferson's freezer has not been adequately explained. Vernon Jackson, the vice president of iGate, "pleaded guilty to funneling $400,000 to the ANJ Group, a company headed by Jefferson’s wife and children. Jackson, who is scheduled to be sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Virginia, has said the payments were in exchange for Jefferson’s help in trying to land deals in Africa." Well, that certainly puts Jefferson in a real bad position. Jackson may be trying for a reduced sentence by giving up Jefferson, but no matter how you look at it, Jefferson's actions are suspect.

Technorati: william jefferson, corruption, bribery, culture of corruption.