N34bn ID card scam: French court fines coy for bribing Nigerian officials

A French firm, Safran, has been fined about N100 million (500,000 euros) by a court in Paris for bribing public officials in Nigeria to secure the  N33.5 billion contract for the printing of more than 70 million identity cards between 2000 and 2003.
Safran, a French aeronautics and defence group, was found guilty by the investigating magistrates, of giving bribes to Nigerian officials that helped it win the contract.
The company is partly owned by France,which owns a 30 per cent stake.
The court found that SAGEM (Société d’Applications Générales de l’Électricité et de la Mécanique, translated to mean Company of General Applications of Electricity and Mechanics, a company that merged with SNECMA to form Safran in 2005, paid bribes worth between N4.8 million ($30,000) to N80 million ($500,000) to Nigerian officials between 2000 and 2003 to secure a 171 million euro contract.
The court condemned the company for endorsing the payments, but dropped charges against two former SAGEM executives: Jean-Pierre Delarue, then a sales manager in Nigeria, and François Perrachon, the former director for identification systems.
Prosecutors had sought a suspended sentence of up to 18 months and fines of 15,000 euros each for the two officials.
The prosecution alleged that Sagem paid millions of dollars as bribes to high-ranking Nigerian officials including the former Minister of Internal Affairs, late Chief Sunday Afolabi.
In reaction to the fine, Safran said it would appeal, and further reiterated its commitment to anti-corruption rules.
The company said, “Safran would like to point out that it is deeply attached to the strict respect of anti-corruption rules.”
Prosecutors had originally sought to have the Safran case dismissed, but did not lodge any formal request at the trial in June. The case came to global focus in 2005, when former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said Sagem paid bribes and presented gifts, including Rolex watches to Nigerian officials to secure the contract.
Afolabi, who was appointed Minister of the Interior in 1999, was in charge of the Identity Card project. He had noted that the cards, to be issued to Nigerians would be used for the 2003 Federal and State elections. Afolabi was arrested on December 5, 2003, by the  Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, on allegations of corruption.
In December 2003 Afolabi stood trial with his successor in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mr. Mohammed Shata, former Labour Minister, Hussain Akwanga and others on charges that they had sought bribes worth about N320 million ($2million) from the French firm, Sagem in connection with the $214million contract to produce identity cards.
All the accused persons were granted bail on December 31, 2003.
Afolabi died of cancer in London in May 2004. In June 2004, the court dropped all charges against him.
Like all members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, France is part of the convention against the bribery of foreign officials, which requires that the practice be a criminal offence.
A report by Reuters said foreign corruption rulings against big French companies are rare in France.
It said a report from the OECD that was leaked in July said French authorities lacked the resources to fight possible corruption in big export contracts.

Woman Gives Birth on Spanish Bus

SITGES, Spain, Sept. 4 -- Police in Spain said they helped a Nigerian woman give birth to a baby after she went into labor on a bus.
Authorities said the 34-year-old woman called for help after her water broke Monday night on the bus, which at the time was passing through a tollbooth in Sitges, southwest of Barcelona.
The driver got the attention of police officers who were nearby assisting another bus that had broken down and the officers helped the woman give birth to a baby boy before an ambulance arrived.
The mother and newborn were taken to a local hospital, where doctors said they are both doing well.

Chinedu Ikedieze Denies Having A Child

It was reported that actor Chinedu Ikedieze and his wife of eight months Nneoma had a baby recently. A report he finds ridiculous.

Chinedu Ikedieze

 "Everybody knows my wife graduated from a fashion school a couple of weeks ago. Did she look pregnant or was she like a nursing mother?
Yes, the photo is mine but it was taken in 2008 with a fan's baby.
I don't know why it is now being recycled. I honestly don't know the intention and plan of those who are sharing the photo"

Woman Keeps Baby In Freezer For 10yrs

BERLIN  (AFP) – German prosecutors said Tuesday they had opened a manslaughter investigation against a 49-year-old woman after the corpse of a new-born baby girl was found in her freezer after 10 years.
The grisly find was made by her former husband on Friday when he defrosted the freezer in the house where they used to live, said prosecutors in the northern city of Flensburg.
It was not clear whether the baby was alive or dead when placed in the freezer, investigators said. There were no signs she had been violently treated but authorities confirmed the baby was not stillborn.
The woman, who has not been named, has admitted the baby was hers and said she was “in a state of complete exhaustion and hopelessness” at the time.
The couple already had three, now fully grown, children and divorced in 2009, prosecutors said.
The woman was released pending further investigations.

15-Year-Old Sentenced For Murder Over Facebook Posts

A 15-year-old Dutch boy was sentenced to a year in juvenile detention on Monday for stabbing to death a girl whose Facebook posts reportedly led to a contract for her killing.
The case, known in the Netherlands as the "Facebook murder", caused widespread debate about the role of social media in violent crime.
The court said the boy did not know the victim and had murdered her "at the request or instructions of others".
Dutch media reported that the 15-year-old victim, named in court documents as Winsie, had argued for weeks with two friends on the social networking site before they allegedly asked the defendant, who was 14 at the time, to kill her.
He was offered a 1,000 euro payment, the media reported.
"I am not happy with one year for my daughter's life," her father said outside the courthouse. "But that's what the law book says. We were powerless and so were the authorities."

Man U, City Monitor Ronaldo’s Crisis At Real

Cristiano Ronaldo put Manchester giants City and United on red alert after admitting he wants to quit Real Madrid.
 A source said: “Yes, Cristiano told president Florentino Perez he wants to leave the club.”
It follows the Portugal superstar’s bombshell on Sunday after scoring twice against Granada.
Ronaldo, 27, did not celebrate either of his goals and said afterwards: “I am sad and the people at the club know about it.
“It’s about professional issues. I can’t say any more.”
Megabucks City and his old club United will keep a close eye on developments – along with Chelsea.
The Portuguese forward, bought from Manchester United for £80m in 2009, led Real to the title last season scoring 46 goals in 38 La Liga games and 60 in all competitions, a performance the 27-year-old perhaps thinks is worthy of a pay-rise.
He has raced to 150 goals for the club at the rate of more than a goal a game but continues to be eclipsed in Spain by Messi’s heroics at Barcelona. Some say the Messi factor eats away at him, such is his vanity.
When he performed poorly for Portugal against Denmark in Euro 2012, Danish fans taunted him by chanting Messi’s name.
Ronaldo is not cherished by Real as Messi is by Barca and one radio station reported that he has told club president Florentino Perez that he does not have the support of the dressing room.
He was at pains to point out, however, that his ‘professional sadness’ was not simply a fickle reaction to losing out to Andres Iniesta in UEFA’s Best Player in Europe award, last week.

How First Lady Contacted Food Poisoning In Dubai - Presidency

A Presidency source told my correspondent that after efforts to stabilise her  (Patience Jonathan) worsening health condition proved abortive by a combined team of the Presidency’s health team, the office of the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, was immediately contacted on Friday, August 24 to make emergency arrangement for a flight to Italy where she was expected to be treated at a specialist hospital.
Though spirited effort were made to airlift the First Lady, getting permit to fly European skies was said to have frustrated the move until sometime in the midnight when a positive response was obtained from the German Authorities.
Following the approval, a Presidential jet departed Abuja on Saturday, August 25 to Frankfurt with wife of the President and a few trusted aides.
On their arrival at Frankfurt, the ailing first Lady was taken to Wisbaden where she was admitted and is currently being treated for food poisoning.
The source said: "I am aware that she contacted food poisoning in Dubai. We really can't say exactly what she ate in Dubai which resulted in the ailment. But as soon as it was becoming difficult to get her stabilised here, we were advised to fly her to Bologna, Italy where a particular hospital is said to be good in handling such matter.
"Because it was an emergency case and there was no assurance that a permit would be granted for the team to fly European skies that night, we were still thinking of an alternative until words came in from the German authorities that we could fly in the next day.  Calls were made to those asked to be on the alert for a journey to Italy as they would now be flying to Germany. The team left for Frankfurt the next day, Saturday, August 25 and Madam was then taken to Wisbaden where she is currently undergoing treatment."
Asked why there was no official statement on the matter, another source said:"I really can't say but there is no truth in the  rumour that'she underwent any operation. Before she left, the medical team was sure it was food poisoning which came out of what she probably ate in Dubai. I am not in the media team of the First Lady and therefore would not know why a statement was not issued.
"All I know is that the First Lady is recuperating and even shook hands with some of the aides that followed her to Germany before she was admitted. She never flew out in an air ambulance but in an official Presidential jet. "
Since the news of her ill health was published by an online news agency, the Presidency has kept mum over the real state of Dame Jonathan's health, insisting that she had simply travelled out for some "moment’s rest" following doctor's advice.