The FBI has raided the Maryland residence of Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar as part of a probe into whether a U.S. congressman made or approved payments to officials in West Africa, a U.S. newspaper reported.
The raid, which took place on Aug. 3 but has only just come to light, was in connection with an investigation into William Jefferson, a democratic congressman from New Orleans, the city’s Times-Picayune newspaper said on Saturday.
The Nigerian vice president was not available for comment on Sunday, but a Nigerian presidential spokeswoman said:
“The presidency has been notified of the incident and is using diplomatic channels to find out the reason and the findings surrounding the incident.”
A U.S. State Department official confirmed Abubakar’s house in the affluent Potomac district just outside Washington had been searched, but referred questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment, the newspaper said.
A source familiar with the investigation said subpoenas showed federal agents were looking for records indicating whether Jefferson paid, offered to pay or authorized payments to Nigerian or Ghanaian government officials, The Times-Picayune said.
Agents were seeking documents related to Jefferson’s dealings with Abubakar and the vice president of Ghana, Aliu Mahama. Jefferson returned from a five-day visit to Ghana in mid-July, about three weeks before the FBI raided his homes, according to the newspaper.
The subpoenas focused in part on a telecommunications deal Jefferson was trying to engineer in Nigeria over the past year, according to documents and those familiar with details of the investigation.
According to The Times-Picayune, sources familiar with the telecommunications deal said Jefferson was attempting to smooth the way for iGate Corp., a small Kentucky company, to offer its high-speed broadband technology to Nigeria’s fast-growing telecommunications market.
Jefferson’s spokeswoman, Melanie Roussell, said the eight-term congressman would continue to decline comment on the federal probe. He has only said he is cooperating with federal investigators, according to the newspaper.
Jefferson’s attorney, Mike Fawer, has said he believes the FBI had been conducting a sting operation against his client.
Abubakar and his wife, Jennifer, a doctoral student at American University in Washington, were said to be in Nigeria.