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  • WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 10 2004 9:51 AM

Halliburton: Yeah, We Bribed People

Submitted by jake_lex

Edited by legionnaire

A report has surfaced that Halliburton may have paid bribes to Nigerian officials to help land a $4 billion natural gas contract. The source of this report?
A Halliburton filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"We understand from the ongoing governmental and other investigations that payments may have been made to Nigerian officials," the Houston-based oil services conglomerate said in a quarterly filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites).

Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said Monday that Halliburton has no concrete knowledge of such payments. "Halliburton's ongoing investigation has still not found any evidence that supports there were any bribes paid," she said.

The allegations center on a contract for a $4 billion Nigerian liquefied natural gas plant awarded in 1995 to TSKJ, a consortium of four partners — M.W. Kellogg Co., a subsidiary of Dresser Industries; Technip SA of France; ENI SpA of Italy; and Japan Gasoline Corp.

Halliburton acquired Dresser in 1998 — three years after Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) began his 1995-2000 tenure as Halliburton's CEO — and combined its Brown & Root subsidiary with M.W. Kellogg to form engineering and construction unit KBR.

The Justice Department (news - web sites), the Securities and Exchange Commission, a French magistrate and Nigerian officials are investigating whether the consortium paid $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials from 1995 through 2002. The consortium got other contracts involving the Nigerian plant in 1999 and 2002.

In June Halliburton fired two consultants including former KBR chairman A. Jack Stanley, for violating the company's business code of conduct by receiving "improper personal benefits" related to TSKJ's construction of the Nigerian plant.


What amuses me most about this story is the fact that Halliburton has a "code of conduct."

This all seems to have happened, of course, before the Bush Administration began (but while the current VP was their CEO), but it's part of a larger pattern. This is an out-of-control, throughly venal company that will do whatever is needed to make profits, even if that means breaking the law, or blatant war-profiteering.

Reading stories on Halliburton at this point must be what it was like reading stories about Watergate in 1972; they're kind of buried, it's hard to find them sometimes, but if you read closely enough, you might hear the beginning of the end of a corrupt administration.

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luckyride

luckyride

Portland, OR
May 2003

NOV 10, 2004 10:09 AM

greed and corruption rule the day.

RubberSoul

RubberSoul

Los Angeles, CA
February 2003

NOV 10, 2004 10:12 AM

How else are they gonna get contracts in a country like Nigeria?

MisterGraves

MisterGraves

Portland, OR
November 2003

NOV 10, 2004 01:21 PM

souljacker said:
How else are they gonna get contracts in a country like Nigeria?



spam them with get-rich-quick mail

AceTracer

acetracer

Hollywood, FL
January 2004

NOV 10, 2004 01:50 PM

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am the vice president of a very important country and in my search for a trustworthy person I came up with your address...

ZPO

ZPO

Roy, WA
July 2004

NOV 10, 2004 03:04 PM

Bribes to government officials are pretty much a standard business practice in that area. It may not be normal here, but there its normal, expected, and required.

syniq

syniq

Albuquerque, NM
June 2004

NOV 10, 2004 04:11 PM

ZPO said:
Bribes to government officials are pretty much a standard business practice in that area. It may not be normal here, but there its normal, expected, and required.



I see what you mean. With corrupt governments, this is how things are done. For example, in much of the world, substandard pay and dangerous working conditions are commonplace, so an American company shouldn't have to do any more. In other places, child labor is the norm, so we can hardly expect an American company to not hire minors, right?


"Halliburton's ongoing investigation has still not found any evidence that supports there were any bribes paid," she said.

$180 million dollars??? They can't prove or disprove the fact that $180 million dollars has disappeared?? What the hell did they write down in their taxes? "We misplaced this money, but it's around here somewhere, we're sure---although we might have bribed some people with it. Not sure right now. We'll get back to you."

effstop

effstop

Las Vegas, NV
June 2004

NOV 10, 2004 04:21 PM

I'd like to see you find another company that can do what Halliburton does, for less. they supply us over there with everything we need, which isn't easy when you have NO control over customs officers having a bad day and locking down your whole pallet of equipment and supplies for 30 days. no other company has the logistics to move the supplies there. you think they just send it all through the postal system? haha! you liberals need to put down your pitch forks and abandon your witch hunt of halliburton.

scooter11

scooter11

USA
OLD SKOOL

NOV 10, 2004 04:55 PM

fstop said:
I'd like to see you find another company that can do what Halliburton does, for less. they supply us over there with everything we need, which isn't easy when you have NO control over customs officers having a bad day and locking down your whole pallet of equipment and supplies for 30 days. no other company has the logistics to move the supplies there. you think they just send it all through the postal system? haha! you liberals need to put down your pitch forks and abandon your witch hunt of halliburton.



Well, if that's true, then why are they scared of having open markets? Open the bidding; if Haliburton can win competitive contacts, good for them.

stockula

stockula

Anchorage, AK
May 2003

NOV 10, 2004 05:42 PM

The end of innocence. American business ethics, once as pure as the driven snow, besmirched by Halliburton playing ball in Nigeria.

wottan

wottan

Vancouver, BC
July 2004

NOV 10, 2004 10:40 PM

Was Haliburton really the first company to besmirch the virginal track record of American business ethics?

els

els

Mount Vernon, WA
November 2004

NOV 10, 2004 10:54 PM

luckyride said:
greed and corruption rule the day.



greed and corruption rule the world.

[Edited on Nov 10, 2004 by els]

scottishrob

scottishrob

Olathe, KS
July 2003

NOV 10, 2004 10:55 PM

I love the outrage of people over what a private company does. The government is one thing, but some Jesus Fricking Christ you fuckers. I love the hypocrisy that only your ethics are the only ones that mean anything. How fascious.

You want to play ball in some other countries, you play by their rules. So Fucking What?

effstop

effstop

Las Vegas, NV
June 2004

NOV 11, 2004 08:56 AM

scooter11 said:

fstop said:
I'd like to see you find another company that can do what Halliburton does, for less. they supply us over there with everything we need, which isn't easy when you have NO control over customs officers having a bad day and locking down your whole pallet of equipment and supplies for 30 days. no other company has the logistics to move the supplies there. you think they just send it all through the postal system? haha! you liberals need to put down your pitch forks and abandon your witch hunt of halliburton.



Well, if that's true, then why are they scared of having open markets? Open the bidding; if Haliburton can win competitive contacts, good for them.



underbidding and winning a contract, doesn't guarantee you can deliver. halliburton can, and has for years. if some company decides "ooh, i'll underbid halliburton and make a name for myself!" and then fucks up, our troops suffer. fuck that, an extra few dollars in my taxes is worth knowing that i and my fellow military members will be supplied when we're deployed.

stockula

stockula

Anchorage, AK
May 2003

NOV 11, 2004 09:07 AM

wottan said:
Was Haliburton really the first company to besmirch the virginal track record of American business ethics?



Sarcasm doesn't come across too well sometimes. I was being sarcastic.

Look, this is the cost of doing business in places like Nigeria. You can either act just like you do in the US and miss out on the business and giving your people jobs, or let Schlumberger (Halliburton's main oilfield services competitor) get it.

The only reason any of you people even care is that your political enemy once headed Halliburton.



[Edited on Nov 11, 2004 by stockula]

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