Halliburton watch: Nigeria bribery scandal

The New York Times > Halliburton Severs Link With 2 Over Nigeria Inquiry

Halliburton's Nigerian scandal widened from accusations of bribery to accusations of embezzlement by senior executives. Haliburton recently dismissed two of its most senior executives, Robert Stanley and William Chaudin, on suspicion of embezzling $5 million from a Nigerian energy project

Halliburton's partners in the Nigerian project included the French construction group Technip, and the Gibralter-based brokerage Tri-Star. Since many of the the alleged payments took place on VP Dick Cheney's watch, French authorities are interested in his perspective on the situation.

Renaud van Ruymbeke, the French judge investigating the matter, has not ruled out summoning Mr. Cheney to France to determine whether he knew anything about the payments.

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Halliburton has retained counsel from the firm of Baker and Botts, explaining:

The company said it did not think it had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits American companies from bribing foreign officials to win business, but said "there can be no assurance that the government or the company's internal investigation will not conclude otherwise."