419 scammers scammed by Australian woman

Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey, 23, was employed by the Nigerians as an "agent" in March 2010 but was unaware they were scam artists, the Brisbane District Court heard today.

Her job was to provide an Australian bank account through which they could funnel any payments they received through their dodgy account on a popular car sales website.

Cochrane-Ramsey was to keep eight per cent of all money paid into her account and forward the rest to the Nigerian scammers.

However, the court heard she kept the two payments she received - totalling $33,350 - and spent most of it on herself.

The car buyers who were ripped off reported the matter to police, who traced the account to Cochrane-Ramsey.

Police inquiries found her employers were based in Nigeria but had been using a web server in New York to run their dodgy car sales listings.

Cochrane-Ramsey pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated fraud on Thursday.

Judge Terry Martin described her as having a "dishonest bent" after hearing she had a history of stealing and property offences.

He adjourned the sentence to allow her time to provide further details of money she claimed was in a bank account that would allow her to make some repayments.

Cochrane-Ramsey will be sentenced next month.

She was allowed bail until then.

Courier-Mail

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Militant group set school ablaze in Maiduguri, Nigeria

Unknown gunmen on Wednesday night set ablaze some classrooms and a store at Budun Primary School in the outskirt of Maiduguri metropolis.

Residents said there was a similar incident at Kulagumna Primary School along Ali Kotoko area of the metropolis on Tuesday.

No group has claimed responsibility of the attacks and this is the first time that a school was set ablaze by some people.

Resident Dahiru Musa ruled out the possibility of electrical fault at Budun Primary School. "There was no electricity in the school and no one sleeps in any of the classes," he said.

Musa said four classrooms and a store were set ablaze at the school shortly after Isha'I (night) prayer and the raging flames lasted for over three hours. "The fire burnt everything in the affected classes," he said.

Daily Trust

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KBR former CEO sentenced to 30 years in prison for bribing Nigerian officials

The former head of US construction company KBR was sentenced to 30 months in prison over the bribing of Nigerian officials to win contracts, the US Justice Department said Thursday.

Albert Stanley, the former chief executive officer of the engineering giant, also must pay his former company $10.8 million in restitution under the judgment handed down in a Houston federal court.

Stanley, 69, pleaded guilty to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

KBR and its parent company, Halliburton, have also agreed to pay a $579 million fine after pleading guilty to corruption charges in Nigeria.

Stanley was accused of participating in a bribery scheme between 1995 and 2004 to obtain construction contracts worth more than $6 billion, according to a US Justice Department statement.

KBR was part of joint venture TSKJ — which also included French firm Technip SA, Dutch and Italian firm Snamprogetti Netherlands BV and Japanese firm JGC Corporation — to build a liquefied natural gas facility on Bonny Island in the Niger Delta.

The joint venture allegedly paid $183 million in bribes to a variety of Nigerian government officials, according to the Justice Department.

Stanley, who was fired by Halliburton in 2004, cooperated in the investigation in exchange for a lighter sentence.

The case sparked criminal investigations in France, Switzerland, Nigeria and Britain.

Two British men, attorney Jeffrey Tesler and businessman Wojciech Chodan, also were sentenced on criminal charges by a Houston judge. Tesler is getting 21 months in prison while Chodan is sentenced to one year of probation.

Last month, Japanese trading house Marubeni, which the TSKJ joint venture hired to help get the engineering contracts, agreed to pay a $54.6 million fine in the United States, the Justice Department said.

In 2010, Technip and Snamprogetti each agreed to pay $240 million fines while JGC settled for a nearly $219 million fine.

Vanguard

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Chevron's disastrous gas well fire in Nigeria may burn for months

  

A gas-fuelled fire, with flames as high as 5m, may burn for months in waters off the Niger Delta in south-east Nigeria.

Two workers died after January's explosion at the KS Endeavour exploration rig, owned by the US firm.

Friends of the Earth says this is the world's worst such accident in recent years.

Chevron spokesman Lloyd Avram says, despite the fire, the situation is now under control and no oil is leaking.

Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa.

A fire is burning in a 40m-wide area on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, 10km off the Nigerian coast.

The company is trying to put out the fire by piercing a hole in the original gas well - through which cement will be poured.

"There'll be 10,000ft of drilling and interestingly we need to hit an area that is approximately 12sq inches," Mr Avram told the BBC.

"It is going to take some time, but I cannot predict how long that is going to be - conceivably months," he said.

Scientists are conducting tests to find out if local food and water has been contaminated by the gas in the ocean - after local people raised concerns.

Almost 100 people have left towns close to the fire and local chiefs are asking Chevron to relocate more.

A major build-up of gas pressure from drilling caused the explosion that set the rig on fire in the middle of January, according to the Nigeria's state run oil company.

BBC 

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Disaster if Chelsea fail to make it into top 4 - John Obi Mikel

Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has admitted that it would be a "disaster" if the Blues fail to attain a top four spot come the end of the season. The west London side currently lie fifth in the Premier League, 17 points behind leaders Manchester City, and face a difficult task away from their domestic worries in the Champions League.

Their status in next year's tournament is being threatened by their poor domestic performances and the Blues have won just once in their last five games.

But the Nigeria international insists the Blues must finish in the top four to ease the pressure on the club and, from there, they can look to establish a fresh title bid next season. Mikel told The Sun: "We must finish in the top four, anything less than that is a disaster. That will ease the pressure off us to look forward to a better season where we can think of winning the title."

Leadership

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