• Tweet
• Sharebar

• Tweet

He’s responsible for two wars, countless deaths, torture, profiteering, corruption and he even shot a man in the face. Now, finally, someone has decided to take Dick Cheney to task, or more specifically to court, in Nigeria.

As the former CEO of Haliburton, Cheney is named in a $180 million anti-bribery case brought about by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria’s anti-corruption police. Basically, through subsidiary KBR, Haliburton bribed Nigerian officials between 1994 and 2004 to secure $6 billion worth of contracts for the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Niger Delta.

They plead guilty in US courts last year and paid a $579 million settlement, but Nigeria along with France and Switzerland have their own investigations open. The Nigerian prosecution is in full swing. Last week they raided the company’s Lagos office, summoned Haliburton’s chief for the country and detained ten staffers. Cheney, who headed the corporation during the time of the bribery, will be charged formally this coming Thursday.

While Nigerian police clearly aren’t intimidated by Cheney’s position within the elite of the better-armed and funded superpower that is America, one wonders if the Obama administration will now start playing catchup and charge the former Vice President with something, anything, and bring his former “boss” George W. Bush along for the ride. They’ve got plenty of obvious things to choose from already and with a little digging, they can probably find much more.

Until then, the United States of America remains behind Nigeria in justice.

Jason C. McLean is a Montreal-based actor, writer, activist, culture-jammer and sometimes singer. He is a co-founder of the Forget The Box Media Collective and currently the editor of Forget The Box Magazine as well as a columnist (The Soapbox), theatre and music reviewer and general contributor. Jason is also a co-creator, writer and in-character host of JC Sunshine's Fireside Chat on Forget The Box TV. Outside of FTB, Jason is a co-founder of the International infringement Festival, organizer of the Montreal infringement Festival and a member of Optative Theatrical Laboratories where he acts, writes, organizes and contributes to the Optative Blog. He also contributes to Art Threat, has written for the Montreal Mirror and holds a BA in Journalism from Concordia University.

Jason C. McLean

View all posts by Jason C. McLean
Jason C.s website