Halliburton seeks to resolve Kazakh probe

[maddezmom]

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Halliburton Co. said on Friday it was working to resolve a customs dispute in Kazakhstan, where a subsidiary of the oil field services company is the target of a criminal probe.


Kazakhstan's state-owned news agency Kazinform reported that customs officials said the Houston-based company must pay $230 million in customs fees.

A Halliburton company spokeswoman said she believed the amount was about $230,000 because the report also said the payment was 30.5 million tenges, which at 133.26 per dollar on the Kazakh Stock Exchange on Friday equaled about $230,000. But she said she could not immediately confirm the amount.

"We believe we have complied with the Kazakhstan procedures and regulations as we understand them," the company said in an e-mail response to a query.

Kazinform said on Friday Halliburton's Kazakhstan operations violated customs laws by shifting imported equipment to operations that were not exempt from customs duties.

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more: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050611/bs_nm/energy_halliburton_kazakhstan_dc_2

[Hand]

1. Man--They must have done something MAJORLY wrong.

I mean, it's not easy to inspire a criminal probe in Kazakhstan!