Son of former American President, George H. Bush, has been accused of playing a role in some shady business deals in Nigeria some years ago.

Jeb Bush made a high profile visit to Nigeria in 1989 during the military regime of the country headed by Ibrahim Babangida.

Various foreign media sources are reporting that the visit was a business trip to promote a business outfit that ended up defrauding Nigerians.

Bush was said to have used his high political influence as the son of the then US president to help in sales for MWI Corporation, a South Florida industrial water-pump company that last year was found guilty in a federal civil case of misleading the U.S. government to secure taxpayer-funded loans.

According to one report, “Bush lent his name – and that of his prominent family – to an enterprise with hazards that should have been obvious . . . the company Bush was promoting sold overpriced agricultural equipment to an impoverished nation whose people often couldn’t use it. In the process, the deal put the already indebted nation further into hock to foreign creditors.”

Bush hasn’t responded to a request for comment for this story, but as he prepares to announce his bid for the presidency, questions still linger about the exact part he played in a deal that the Justice Department said took advantage of both the Nigerian people and American taxpayers.

Jeb Bush formally declared his intention to run for the 2016 US presidential election on the platform of the Republican Party a few days ago.

•Photo shows Jeb Bush.