Details the myriad illegal, immoral, and unethical activities of Dick Cheney when CEO of Halliburton, his obstruction of justice, and lies to the American public since his appointment as Vice President. For information on an equally corrupt politician, see link to Tom DeLay-Corporate Whore. Be sure to visit our cavernous vault of archives.

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The Facts on Halliburton

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

From the Democratic National Committee:

Cheney: "Well, the reason they keep mentioning Halliburton is because they're trying to throw up a smokescreen. They know the charges are false." [Vice President Debate, 10/5/04]

Edwards: Halliburton Used Enron Style Accounting Practices. "While he was CEO of Halliburton, they paid millions of dollars in fines for providing false information on their company, just like Enron and Ken Lay." [Vice President Debate, 10/5/04]

Halliburton Agreed to Pay $7.5 Million to Settle SEC Probe into Cheney-Era Accounting Practices. Halliburton agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle a SEC probe of the company's accounting during the tenure of Dick Cheney. Halliburton failed in 1998 to disclose a change in the way it accounted for revenue from some construction work, the SEC said in a statement. The SEC said "the company misled investors and violated federal securities laws." [Bloomberg News, 8/3/04; Complaint of SEC vs Halliburton Company and Robert Charles Muchmore Jr. 8/3/04]

Edwards: Under Cheney, Halliburton Did Business With Iran and Libya. "They did business with Libya and Iran, two sworn enemies of the United States."[Vice President Debate, 10/5/04]

Justice Dept. Issued Subpoena Seeking Information of Halliburton’s Role In Iran Under Cheney. Halliburton received an inquiry in 2001 from the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department inquiring about operations in Iran by a Halliburton subsidiary. In July 2004, OFAC transferred the case to the Justice Department and a federal grand jury issued a subpoena to Halliburton seeking information about its work in Iran. Government officials told the Washington Post such cases are referred to the Justice Department only when there is evidence "intentional or willful" violations have occurred. [Houston Chronicle, 12/15/03; Halliburton Co. 10-Q, 5/7/04; Reuters, 7/19/04; Washington Post, 7/21/04]

Cheney Admitted Doing Business in Iran and Libya. When asked whether Halliburton did business with Iraq, Cheney said in 2000, "What we do with respect to Iran and Libya is done through foreign subsidiaries, totally in compliance with U.S. law." [ABC, This Week, 7/30/00]

Edwards: Halliburton is Being Investigated For Charges of Bribery Under Cheney. "They're now under investigation for having bribed foreign officials during that period of time." [Vice President Debate, 10/5/04]

SEC And Justice Department Investigating Halliburton Bribery Charges During Cheney’s Tenure. A French judge is looking at whether Vice President Dick Cheney may have been responsible under French law for at least one of four bribery payments exchanged between a Halliburton subsidiary and Nigerian officials to obtain contracts for liquefied natural projects. Under French law, "the head of a company can be charged with ‘misuse of corporate assets’ for bribes paid by any employee - even if the executive didn't know about the improper payments." Furthermore, the SEC, the Justice Department and the Nigerian government are also investigating the bribery charges against Halliburton. [Dallas Morning News, 1/25/04, 2/10/04; Associated Press, 2/4/04, 2/5/04, 2/6/04; Houston Chronicle, 2/7/04]

Edwards: Halliburton Got No-Bid Contracts in Iraq. "Not only that, they've gotten a $7.5 billion no-bid contract in Iraq, and instead of part of their money being withheld, which is the way it's normally done, because they're under investigation, they've continued to get their money." [Vice President Debate, 10/5/04]

Halliburton’s Got No-Bid Contract in Iraq. In March 2003, the Pentagon awarded a subsidiary of Halliburton a no-bid contract worth $7 billion to help rebuild Iraqi oil fields. According to Time, an internal Pentagon e-mail said "action" on the contract was "coordinated" with the Vice President’s office. A senior political appointee in the Defense Department, Michael H. Mobbs, who works for undersecretary of defense Douglas Feith, acknowledged that he selected Halliburton for Iraq reconstruction work. Before awarding the contract, Mobbs briefed top officials, including Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's top aide, and White House staff members. [Time, 5/30/04; Los Angeles Times, 5/7/03; Washington Post, 2/10/04, 6/14/04]

Halliburton Has Gotten Three Extensions To Avoid Payments Being Withheld. Under government rules, contractors cannot be paid more than 85 percent of their invoices until they fully account for their costs. It had appeared that the Army was going to withhold payments to Halliburton because the contractor cannot account for nearly half of its work in Iraq and Kuwait. But for the third time this year, the Army gave Halliburton an extension and will continue to pay them in full. This happened despite the fact that Pentagon auditors "strongly" urged the U.S. Army to start withholding millions of dollars in payments to Halliburton Co. until the company justified its bills. [Washington Post, 8/18/04; New York Times, 8/17/04; Associated Press, 8/24/04; Reuters, 8/24/04; Houston Chronicle, 8/25/04]

Edwards: Halliburton Used Off Shore Tax Shelters. "When the vice president was CEO of Halliburton, they took advantage of every offshore loophole available.They had multiple offshore companies that were avoiding taxes." [Vice President Debate, 10/5/04]

Halliburton Maintained "A Slew of Entities" in Offshore Tax Havens. In 2001, Halliburton maintained, what the Wall Street Journal described as, "a slew of entities" in offshore tax havens. According to the Journal, "Halliburton, according to its latest annual report to shareholders filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has units in St. Lucia, Liechtenstein, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, the Netherlands Antilles and the British Virgin Islands. All are well-known tax havens with few natural resources." According the Security and Exchange Commission, while Cheney was in charge, Halliburton set up over 20 affiliates in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying US taxes. [Washington Post, 8/1/02; Wall Street Journal, 8/5/02]