FLASH! Halliburton is still crooked

Halliburton Co. in January won a contract to drill at a huge Iranian gas field called Pars - which an Iranian government spokesman said "served the interests" of Iran - despite U.S. sanctions tightly restricting the ability of U.S. companies to do business there, NBC News reported Monday.

Halliburton says the operation, which was videotaped by NBC News, is entirely legal. It's run by a subsidiary called Halliburton Products and Services Ltd., based outside the U.S. In fact, the law allows foreign subsidiaries of U.S. corporations to do business in Iran under strict conditions, the NBC report noted.

Other U.S. oil services companies, like Weatherford and Baker Hughes, also are in Iran, according to the report. And foreign subsidiaries of NBC's parent company, General Electric Co., have sold equipment to Iran, though the company says it will make no more sales, NBC said.

Still, Halliburton stands out because its operations in Iran are now under a federal criminal investigation. Government sources, according to NBC, said the focus of the investigation is on whether the company set out to illegally evade the sanctions imposed 10 years ago by President Bill Clinton.
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