I was shocked , reading the article below, to find that Politicians of other African nations can be corrupt also !!! I was totally confused and discombobulated to discover that it is not only Nigerian politicians who collect bribe. Listening to many non-Nigerian Africans you would think all Nigerians are born with a criminality gene while they are Angels . I guess there is always a chance that the bribe collectors named below are Nigerians pretending to be citizens of Ghana, Angola, Mozambique and Madagascar !!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/25/mabey-johnson-foreign-bribery

British firm Mabey and Johnson convicted of bribing foreign politicians
BAE the next target as bridge-building firm becomes first major UK company to be convicted of foreign bribery

David Leigh and Rob Evans guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 September 2009 17.50 BST

A string of foreign politicians and officials were named as having received corrupt payments from a British firm today, as the company admitted it had systematically paid bribes around the world to win contracts.

The bridge-building firm, Mabey and Johnson, is the first major British company to be convicted of foreign bribery. Many of its contracts were financially supported by the British taxpayer.

The conviction by the Serious Fraud Office comes as the fraud agency turns its attention to a bigger target, BAE, Britain's biggest arms firm.

The SFO has given BAE until Wednesday to decide whether to bow to an ultimatum and agree to some version of a plea bargain over long-running corruption allegations.

Richard Alderman, the agency's director, has put his credibility on the line, and, according to Whitehall sources, is committed to asking law officers for consent to prosecute the arms giant if it fails to accept multimillion-pound penalties.

Today, at Southwark crown court, London, John Hardy QC for the SFO, revealed the names of 12 individuals in six countries alleged to have received bribes from the Reading-based Mabey and Johnson.

He said the company paid "a wide-ranging series of bribes" totalling £470,000 to politicians and officials in Ghana.

He identified five who travelled to Britain to collect sums of money from £10,000 to £55,000 from bank accounts in London and Watford.

Ministers and officials in Angola, Madagascar, Mozambique, Bangladesh, and Jamaica were also bribed, Hardy told the court.

Hardy said that over eight years, the firm gave £100,000 "to buy the favours" of Joseph Hibbert, a key Jamaican official in awarding contracts, one of them worth £14m.

The court was told how the firm, owned by one of Britain's richest families, paid bribes totalling £1m to foreign politicians and officials to get export orders valued at £60m to £70m through covert middlemen.

The Mabey family built up a fortune of more than £200m by selling steel bridges internationally.

The company also broke UN sanctions by illegally paying £363,000 to Saddam Hussein's government from 2001 – 2002.

This first conviction has been hailed as a landmark by the British government, which has been heavily criticised for failing to prosecute any UK firm for foreign bribery. Campaigners said the failure rendered the 1997 pledge to crack down on corrupt exporters worthless.

The firm will pay out more than £6.5m, including fines and reparations to foreign governments.

It pleaded guilty to corruption in a pioneering deal with the SFO. It is the first time the agency has concluded a US-style plea bargain with a firm accused of corruption overseas.

The company said it had reformed itself, stopped making corrupt payments, and got rid of five executives. Timothy Langdale, the firm's QC, said: "This is a new company. It is not the one which made these payments."

The SFO investigation continues to look into whether individuals should be prosecuted.

Overseas politicians and officials named as recipients of bribes from Mabey and Johnson

Ghana

Ato Qarshie (former roads minister) £55,000

Saddique Bonniface (minister of works) £25,500

Amadu Seidu (former deputy roads minister) £10,000

Edward Lord-Attivor (chairman inter-city transport corp) £10,000

Dr George Sepah-Yankey (health minister) £15,000

Madagascar

Zina Andrianarivelo-Razafy (permanent representative at the UN) $5,000

Lt-Col Jean Tsaranasy (former public works minister) £33,000

Jamaica

Joseph Uriah Hibbert (former works minister) £100,0000

Angola

Antonio Gois (former general manager state bridges agency) $1.2 m

Joao Fucungo (former director state bridges agency) $13,000

Mozambique

Carlos Fragoso (former head of DNEP, directorate of roads and bridges) £286,000

Bangladesh

Khandaker Rahman (chief engineer, roads & highways dept)

Gbawe:

I was shocked , reading the article below, to find that Politicians of other African nations can be corrupt also !!! I was totally confused and discombobulated to discover that it is not only Nigerian politicians who collect bribe.

You sounded like a kid. If i may ask, how old are you actually?

Bialegend:

You sounded like a kid. If i may ask, how old are you actually?

I am a kid !!!! I am 6 years old. Now that I have answered your question I will also ask you a question.

Do you know what sarcasm is , especially as related to writing style deployed to chide humorously?

Gbawe:

I am a kid !!!! I am 6 years old. Now that I have answered your question I will also ask you a question.

Do you know what sarcasm is especially as related to writing style?

There is no atom of sarcasm in your comment above, so stop finding face.

Bialegend:

There is no atom of sarcasm in your comment above, so stop finding face.

I answered your question while you did not attempt to answer mine. Nothing spoil . I will accept you don't understand what sarcasm means In case you don't get it,  I was using mock surprise to poke fun at how virtually all citizens of most African nation considers themselves totally virtuous while they simultaneously seek to show that Nigerians are irredeemably corrupt.

You don't get sarcasm , even when it is blatantly obvious, because you are not a relaxed and amiable poster . you are belligerent and bellicose. from the little I have seen of your writing it is obvious you want to engage everyone in a verbal fight . I won't indulge you.

Not only african countries, the egunje thing they for europe and america too. afterall they taught african all the tricks.

OAM4J:

Not only african countries, the egunje thing they for europe and america too. afterall they taught african all the tricks.

But the difference if the Europeans and Americans get caught them go retire for Jail

TheSeeker:

Na today?!!

No be today jare.

I really think a section tagged "Nairaland war or words" should be created.

We keep attacking other people's views instead of commenting on the topic at hand.

Some people can't think outside of the box - especially if that box is biafra.

Pro Anti:

I really think a section tagged "Nairaland war or words" should be created.

We keep attacking other people's views instead of commenting on the topic at hand.

Indeed .That rude and mindless intolerance for the views of others will only drive away discussants not used to uncouthness and lack of civility. A diverse forum will be one where , within reason, all opinions are accomodated and discussed. Some folks are here only to fight and goad others. Those type of forumers are not difficult to recognise. I generally steer clear of such folks but I acknowledge that they are free to respond to what I write.

@Gbawe,

If you have the time read "The Appeal" by John Grisham - you'll get a feel for real corruption in US polity and big business.

and also "Confessions Of An Economic HitMan" by John Perkins

If you are interested in sofisticated corruption perpetrated by other countries - what some Nigerians engage in is child's play.

$poOne:

@Gbawe,

If you have the time read "The Appeal" by John Grisham - you'll get a feel for real corruption in US polity and big business.

Thanks for your recommendation but , with all due respect , I don't think I need to read any book to note what I know very well already i.e the "real corruption in US polity and big business".

I did not start this thead to infer that corruption is only limited to Africa either. My point can be picked up from my very first post:

Listening to many non-Nigerian Africans you would think all Nigerians are born with a criminality gene while they are Angels . I guess there is always a chance that the bribe collectors named below are Nigerians pretending to be citizens of Ghana, Angola, Mozambique and Madagascar !!!!

I really think a section tagged "Nairaland war or words" should be created.

We keep attacking other people's views instead of commenting on the topic at hand.

I have found out this is the case in this forum, it is very rare in other forums. So when I am in nairaland, i have to get ready for insults, then when i change to another forum I am more relaxed