French sleaze inquiry targets US oil subsidiary - Halliburton

[dArKeR]

The public prosecutor's office in Paris said yesterday it was opening a formal judicial inquiry into alleged corruption by a French engineering firm and the American oil services giant Halliburton, which was headed until two years ago by Dick Cheney, the vice-president of the United States.

The investigation is the first of its kind in France under laws introduced as part of an international convention on cross-border corruption signed in 1997 by some 35 countries, including the US.

The financial crimes squad in Paris believes a French oil and gas engineering firm, Technip, and particularly the Halliburton subsidiary KBR were jointly involved during the 1990s in the payment of up to $200-million of under-the-counter "commissions" in relation to a huge gas contract in Nigeria.

The convention, under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, aims to fight corporate attempts to buy the favours of public authorities abroad.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=21785

[Eloriel]

1. Well! Thank heaven someone is looking into the corruption

Some DUer said on another thread a day or so ago that Brown&Root is getting $165 a day per troop for supplying food and water and so forth. And some troops are down to 1 MRE per day. Does that sound like a little skimming going on? Sure does to me.

Nail these guys.

Eloriel

[izzie]

2. And the officers are living in the palaces with air cond. and baths.

Read 'the Nation'.

[Gin]

3. I have often wondered why the term "Officers and Men" is used in the

service. What does that make Officers?

[0007]

5. Around twenty three million a day? Wow!

And the troops must protect those oil & construction companies? The mafia couldn't have done better, 'eh?

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. "police forces of signatory countries to investigate any company "

That should have the BFEE getting a wee bit concerned ?


From the Article:

It allows the police forces of signatory countries to investigate any company suspected of offering commercial sweeteners of any kind to elected or unelected public officials anywhere in the world.

According to Le Figaro newspaper, French police believe KBR was behind a web of off-shore companies and bank accounts set up to "facilitate" the work of TSKJ, a joint venture between four engineering companies that had won a lucrative contract from international oil companies to build a large liquefied natural gas plant on Bonny Island in the eastern Niger delta.

TSKJ, in which KBR was the leading player, allegedly paid a second off-shore company at least $180-million in commissions -- most of which was transferred to a score of different off-shore bank accounts -- for "mediating" with the Nigerian authorities. It is alleged that much of that money wound up in the pockets of public officials.

The French judicial investigation into "corruption of foreign public officials, abuse of funds, complicity and receiving misappropriated monies" targets KBR but will inevitably involve Halliburton, KBR's parent company, which recently won around $1,7-billion worth of contracts from the Bush administration to help rebuild Iraq's oil industry.

<snip>

Hey GeeDubya - this is the Age of Information !!

Ya can run, but ya can't Hide !

History repeats itself

Ya know - "The Rise and fall of - - - - " - get it ???

[bahrbearian]

6. Start the Shredder , Burn the disks, Clean the hard drive's

and shut down the Network.

[lovedems]

7. I find it so fascinating that Nigeria is involved!

If it was in the 1990's, that was when Cheney was CEO, right? Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-, maybe the French can discredit these guys and take their beloved government contract away. Better yet, maybe that can arrest the then CEO!

[mbperrin]

10. PLEASE arrest the

CEO!



please?

[leesa]

8. Good! You would think the US Congress would look into this corruption

but, then again,,,it might cut into their lucrative contracts from the wars. Cheney and his thugs at Halliburton are stealing billions from us and our "representatives" could give a shit, except to whine about not getting their piece of the pie.

[salin]

9. Any one remember the stories of the tax shelters (MANY) of Halliburton,

we thought it was all about tax shelters. Now perhaps we need to rethink it. Slush funds?