The French government has been investigating possible criminal activity by the Halliburton Corp when Cheney was CEO. Now the DoJ has picked up the ball.
The Justice Department has launched a criminal probe investigating whether Halliburton, while under the leadership of Vice President Dick Cheney, bribed the corrupt Nigerian government with $180 million to secure a $3.8 billion chemical plant construction contract. Any involvement in the payments by Cheney, then CEO of Halliburton, could violate of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – which is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. A parallel investigation is being conducted by the SEC.
...There is evidence that Halliburton's alleged bribes benefited (and were possibly coordinated by) Nigerian dictator Gen. Sani Abacha – a man whose brutality and repression brought U.S. sanctions. Newsweek reports that the payments were "routed through off-shore bank accounts and were allegedly handled by a longtime Halliburton lawyer in London who, according to French press reports, was also a financial advisor to Nigeria's late dictator Gen. Sani Abacha."
...CBS reports that, while CEO, Cheney created an off-shore subsidiary to avoid U.S. [taxes and] sanctions and "set up shop in Iran." The company now "sells about $40 million a year worth of oil field services to the Iranian Government."
...Newsweek notes that the Justice Department probe could "raise potential conflict-of-interest questions for Attorney General John Ashcroft" because of his close ties to Cheney and the Administration. Similar concerns recently prompted Ashcroft to recuse himself from a probe "into who leaked information that disclosed the undercover identity of the wife of former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson." Cheney donated over $1,600 to Ashcroft's 1994 and 2000 Senate campaigns. The Justice Department "declined to comment on what role Ashcroft has played in the Halliburton probe so far." article
Oh what a tangled web.
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