WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- The Louisiana congressman tangled in a bribery investigation allegedly says on a newly unsealed tape that the vice president of Nigeria wanted a payoff.
Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., told an associate that Atiku Abubakar wanted half the profits of a telecommunications partnership in return for influencing the Nigerian state telephone company, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. The tape was released Monday as a result of lawsuits filed by the Times-Picayune and The Washington Post.
Jefferson has not yet been charged with any crime. A former aide was recently sentenced to eight years imprisonment. The aide had approached Jefferson on behalf of Lori Moody, a businessman seeking to set up a partnership in Nigeria, who became suspicious and went to the FBI, and later taping conversations with Jefferson, officials said.
