Senator Asks for Audit of Iraq Contracts

[papau]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3659114

Senator Asks for Audit of Iraq Contracts
Tue October 21, 2003 02:50 PM ET

By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - ...Michigan Sen. Carl Levin released a copy of a letter he sent to the GAO in which he voiced concern that "important safeguards" had been ignored and excessive rates charged for work done under contracts in Iraq paid for by U.S. taxpayers. <snip>

Most contracts for Iraq have been issued by the U.S. Agency for International Development or the Army Corps of Engineers, whose main contractor is a subsidiary of Texas company Halliburton, once run by Vice President Dick Cheney.
<snip>

On a related issue, two Democratic lawmakers released information they said showed Halliburton was overcharging for oil products imported into Iraq, a claim the company rejects.

In a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers, California Rep. Henry Waxman and Michigan Rep. John Dingell said Iraq's state-owned oil company, the State Oil Marketing Organization, was paying between 90 and 98 cents per gallon to import gasoline versus more than $1.59 billed by Halliburton.
<snip>

[tom_paine]

1. An "Old Republic" moment

Ain't that sweet?

Actually, I shouldn't be facetious. These are the last few instances of resistance to Imperial Rule, be it fraud, theft, judicial murder or otherwise...

So I suppose that, ineffectual as it will likely turn out to be (maybe not, but a man can hope), I should be more appreciative of this brave act and all others like it.

[Upfront]

4. Timely

After he just voted to give them 87 billion more. Another empty attempt to do something right.

[Wickerman]

2. And I heard on the radio that Halliburton was outraged at the suggestio

that they had inflated contracts. Fuck them, the treasonous bastards.

[UpInArms]

3. when you look for corrupt corporations

there is a large footnote regarding Halliburton

see: http://www.corporatewatch.org/profiles/haliburton/haliburton4.htm

Corporate corruption
In April 2002 Halliburton decided to replace the discredited Arthur Anderson LLP accounting firm with KPMG LLP. This is despite CEO Dave Lesar's claim that 'for more than 50 years Andersen has provided Halliburton with outstanding audit services and adhered to a high standard of professionalism'.88
A brief look at Anderson's history suggests that Lesar's definition of 'professionalism' is slightly unusual. The accounting firm was ordered to pay $500,000 and sentenced to five years probation in October 2002 for obstructing justice in a probe of its client Enron.89 This was in addition to a $7 million fine in June 2002, the biggest civil penalty ever assessed against a Big Five accounting firm, after the SEC said its audits of Waste Management's financial statements were 'false and misleading.' Anderson also provided a change in accounting rules enabling Halliburton to collect on cost overruns on myriad construction projects. This meant that Halliburton was able to inflate profits by $234 million over a four-year period. When the Securities and Exchange Commission found out, more than a dozen law suits emerged alleging fraud and they began an ongoing probe for questionable accounting practices. 90 According to the Government Accounting Office (GAO), Halliburton has also seriously overrun its budget in Bosnia by almost £300 million. The GAO suspects foul play.91

and http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PRT.jsp?articleid=6028

When Cheney quit his Pentagon job, he landed the job of Halliburton's CEO, bringing with him his trusted deputy David Gribbin. The two substantially increased Halliburton's government business until they quit in 2000, once Cheney was elected vice president. This included a $2.2 billion bill for a Brown and Root contract to support US soldiers in Operation Just Endeavor in the Balkans.

After Cheney and Gribbin departed, another confidante of Cheney, Admiral Joe Lopez, former commander in chief for U.S. forces in southern Europe, took over Gribbin's old job of go-between for the government and the company, according to Brown and Root's own press releases.

In 2001 the company took in $13 billion in revenues, according to its latest annual report. Currently, Brown and Root estimates it has $740 million in existing U.S. government contracts (approximately 37 percent of its global business).

and so much more...