Nigeria drops Dick Cheney bribery charge

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

December 17 2010 Last updated at 16:30 GMT

Nigeria has dropped charges against former US Vice-President Dick Cheney over a 1990s bribery scandal, anti-corruption officials say.

The case focused on bribes paid by engineering firm KBR while it was a subsidiary of Halliburton, a firm headed by Mr Cheney at the time.

Nigerian officials said Halliburton agreed an out-of-court deal worth $250m (£160m). The firm has not commented.

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Femi Babafemi, of Nigeria's anti-corruption agency EFCC, said Halliburton had agreed to pay $250m "in lieu of prosecution". He said $130m of the money would be repatriated from foreign bank accounts.

AFP news agency reported that the money in foreign accounts was part of the bribery scheme, but had been frozen before it had reached Nigeria.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12018900

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So, they are paying back bribery money to get Cheny off the hook? This is confusing.