[Peace-discuss] Halliburton admits bribe, operation of Iraqi oil fields

[Ken Urban]

HELLO,

MY NAME IS john doe AND I AM A FORMER NIGERIAN TAX OFFICIAL.  I
RECENTLY RECEIVED THE SUM OF 25,000,000.00 (TWENTY FIVE MILLION US
DOLLARS) FROM HALLIBURTON.  IT IS CURRENT PLACED IN A BANK ACCOUNT IN
THE NETHERLANDS ...

Well, you get the idea,

Ken

>>> Ricky Baldwin <baldwinricky at yahoo.com> 05/09/03 10:47PM >>>
Halliburton admits bribe

May 9, 2003

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Oil services giant Halliburton,
already under fire over accusations that its White
house ties helped win a major Iraqi oil contract, has
admitted that a subsidiary paid a multi-million dollar
bribe to a Nigerian tax official. 

Halliburton, once run by Vice President Richard
Cheney, revealed the illicit payments, worth 2.4
million dollars, in a filing Thursday with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

"The payments were made to obtain favorable tax
treatment and clearly violated our code of business
conduct and our internal control procedures,"
Halliburton said. 

Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR),
which paid the bribe, has been in the political
spotlight since it was awarded a no-bid US government
oil contract in Iraq in March. 

KBR is building a liquefied natural gas plant and an
offshore oil and gas terminal in Nigeria. 

Halliburton told the SEC the bribe was discovered
during an audit of KBR's Nigerian office. 

The payments were made in 2001 and 2002, Halliburton
spokeswoman Zelma Branch told AFP's business ethics
news service, AFX Global Ethics Monitor. 

Cheney led the company as chief executive from 1995
until August 2000, when he became President George W.
Bush's running mate. 

"Based on the findings of the investigation we have
terminated several employees," Halliburton said in the
filing, adding that none of its senior officers was
involved in the bribe. 

"We are cooperating with the SEC in its review of the
matter," Halliburton said. 

"We plan to take further action to ensure that our
foreign subsidiary pays all taxes owed in Nigeria,
which may be as much as an additional five million
dollars, which has been fully accrued." 

Halliburton said its code of business conduct and
internal control procedures were "essential" to the
way it ran its business. 

The group is already facing questions over its
business in Iraq and its accounting practices. 

On Tuesday, a US lawmaker said the military had
revealed for the first time that KBR had a contract
encompassing the operation of Iraqi oil fields. 

Previously, the US Army Corps of Engineers had
described the contract given to Halliburton as
involving oil well firefighting. 

But in a May 2 letter replying to questions from Henry
Waxman, a Democrat, the army said the contract also
included "operation of facilities and distribution of
products." 

Waxman, the top-ranking Democrat in the House of
Representatives' committee on government reform, asked
for an explanation. 

"These new disclosures are significant and they seem
at odds with the administration's repeated assurances
that the Iraqi oil belongs to the Iraqi people,"
Waxman said. 

The Army Corps of Engineers had said it decided to
forgo competitive bidding on the first contract
because of time constraints. 

But in a May 2 letter responding to questions from
Waxman, military programs chief Lieutenant General
Robert Flowers said the military assigned the work to
KBR's services division in November 2002, under a
pre-existing contract for the firm to provide
logistical support to the US Army worldwide. 

Waxman has also criticized Halliburton for dealings
with countries such as Iran, Iraq and Libya, cited by
Washington as state sponsors of terrorism or members
of the so-called "axis of evil". 


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