This story hasn’t quite worked its way up to the front page of the national papers yet, but it’s percolating along and you might be hearing more about it soon. I have no idea if there’s something to this or not, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
The Dallas Morning News ran a detailed story on its front page last weekend explaining Halliburton’s alleged role in a bribery scandal in which the company worked with French business partners to offer bribes to Nigerian officials in order to win a lucrative construction contract in the 1990s. Vice President Dick Cheney was, of course, Halliburton’s CEO at the time.
The details of the story aren’t pretty, but it’s unclear exactly what role Cheney may have had, if any. The London Daily Express reported that French officials are prepared to “subpoena” Cheney as part of the investigation. For now, Cheney doesn’t want to talk about it — his office declined comment to the Dallas Morning News last Friday.
Perhaps most damning are reports that a former official with the French company that worked with Halliburton in Nigeria claims that Cheney’s company controlled a “slush fund” from which bribes and kickbacks were distributed. Does this official have any proof? I haven’t seen any, but that’s his claim.
Complicating matters, the Morning News article noted that Halliburton already admitted in a 2002 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that “one of our foreign subsidiaries operating in Nigeria made improper payments of approximately $ 2.4 million” in a separate case. Halliburton said it is now cooperating with the SEC in this matter.
As the Center for American Progress explained, this is bribery scandal and its ongoing investigation is no small matter.
“If formal charges are brought against Cheney, they could have serious consequences. The Dallas Morning News notes the case is being pursued under a treaty signed by France, the U.S. and more than 30 countries ‘outlawing bribery of foreign public officials. It makes the payment of such bribes a criminal offense.’ Additionally, such bribes ‘have been illegal in the United States since the mid-1970s under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.'”
Obviously, this is still an early stage of the process and nothing may come of this. But, The Nation reported on this and said that an “indictment” against Cheney may be forthcoming.
“One of France’s best-known investigating magistrates, Judge Renaud van Ruymbeke…has been conducting a probe of the Nigeria deal since October,” The Nation reported. “And, three days before Christmas, the Paris daily Le Figaro front-paged the news that Judge van Ruymbeke had notified the Justice Ministry that Cheney might be among those eventually indicted as a result of his investigation.”
A story to keep an eye on, I guess. It could be something or it could be nothing. We’ll see.