A British solicitor accused of taking part in a scheme to bribe Nigerian officials to secure lucrative gas contracts was arrested yesterday.

Police arrested Jeffrey Tesler, 60, at a business address in North London after authorities in the United States requested his extradition and that of another Briton, Wojciech Chodan.

Prosecutors in the US have charged him with helping to dispense bribe money from a consortium made up of four companies to government officials in Nigeria to secure contracts worth more than $6 billion (£4.2 billion).

They are also seeking forfeiture of $130 million from the two.

After his arrest, Mr Tesler appeared before City of Westminster magistrates and is due to return at a later date.

The US Department of Justice said yesterday that police were still looking for Mr Chodan, 71, a former salesman and consultant from Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Mr Tesler and Mr Chodan are each charged with ten counts of violating the American Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and one count of conspiracy to violate the Act. The charges relate to the awarding of natural gas contracts in the Niger delta.

The two men were involved in a joint venture to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Bonny Island in Nigeria. The consortium bidding for the contract included Kellogg, Brown and Root Inc (KBR), a major engineering and construction company that was formerly part of Halliburton, which was controlled by Dick Cheney until he became US Vice-President in 2000.

According to the indictment, Mr Tesler worked as an agent for the consortium between 1995 and 2004.

It is alleged that Mr Chodan and other members of the group discussed using Mr Tesler to pay bribes to Nigerian government officials to try to influence the awarding of the contract.

It is also alleged that the former chief executive and chairman of KBR, Albert Stanley, and others related to the consortium’s bid, met with officials at “crucial junctures” before the contracts were awarded to discuss the bribes.

Stanley was dismissed from KBR in June 2004 and pleaded guilty last September to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Mr Tesler is accused of controlling a Gibraltar-based shell company, through which the consortium allegedly paid $132 million to bribe the officials.

In December 1995 the consortium was awarded a $2.2 billion contract to build the first two stages of the gas plant. KBR’s successor company, Kellogg Brown & Root LLC, was ordered last month to pay a $402 million fine for its role in bribing Nigerian government officials. It had pleaded guilty to charges related to breaking the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Mr Tesler works as a consultant for Kaye Tesler Solicitors, a small legal firm based in London. His profile on the company’s website says that he is also the director of a number of property and IT companies and that he runs his own trade consultancy.

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