MLJ Volume 36-1.pdf - Robson Hall Faculty of Law

Manitoba Hydro and Electricity Undertakings 59
more crucial that all necessary institutional, logistical, social and other
frameworks be put in place if the project management contract for the
Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) would be bankable and
successful.
VII.
OFFICIAL CORRUPTION AS MILITATING FACTOR
Corruption in Nigeria is monumental, and there is no point playing
patriotism with truism. In electricity, corruption could take various ways
or forms. The example of Halliburton Bribery scandal in Nigeria is a
classic case of the devastating extent to which corporate corruption could
be stretched by unscrupulous business actors in collaboration with corrupt
local officials. 86 Gas development is crucial to electricity generation and
transmission. According to the report:
In efforts to harness Nigeria’s gas resources, the Federal Government, between
1995 and 2004, awarded about $6 billion US Dollars in contract to a consortium
of four companies including Kellogg of the USA, later known as KBR for the
construction of Trains 1-6 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Project in
Bonny, Rivers State. The consortium was registered as TSKJ. In the course of
investigation into Elf’s activities in France in 2003, the former Director of
Technip deposed that the TSKJ consortium had secured the relevant contracts
through bribery of key government officials and politicians in Nigeria. 87
Due to this revelation, an investigation commenced in the United States
that led to the indictment of Halliburton (then parent company to KBR)
on February 11, 2009 for violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 88
Part of the punishment, in addition to fines, was that the consortium and
Halliburton be excluded from all future contracts in the country. 89
A crucial lesson for Manitoba Hydro to glean from the Halliburton
bribery scandal in Nigeria is that corporate ethics may be compromised
due to local factors from the country of operation. Halliburton’s case is a
interests are militating against the success of the electricity reforms. The forces
identified include management of the initial holding company, the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the various labour unions in the sector and other
logistical factors like gas, water supply among others.
86
See Halliburton Scandal in Nigeria, supra note 37.
87
Ibid at paras 4-5.
88
15 USC §§ 78dd-1 (1977).
89
Supra note 37.