Nigeria's anti-graft agency EFCC is probing a $15 million bribery scam involving German luxury carmaker Daimler and officials at a Nigerian automobile firm, the agency said on June 7.
"We opened investigations into the Daimler/Anammco scam recently following a judgment in the U.S. where some Nigerians were convicted in relation to the Daimler bribery scam," the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's head Farida Waziri said.
"So far, we have interviewed about four officials and representatives of Daimler and Anammco in Nigeria," she explained.
Daimler owns a substantial share of the Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (Anammco), the only Nigerian firm that assembles Mercedes Benz trucks and buses in the country.
"We are working hard to see how we can crack some of these high profile cases with international dimensions," she said..
Daimler has admitted making hundreds of improper payments worth tens of millions of dollars to foreign government officials in at least 22 countries between 1998 and 2008, according to a prosecution agreement filed in a Washington court.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
