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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Total value of Halliburton's military contracts equals $21 billion

9 Dec. 2004

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- The total value of Halliburton's military contracts reached $21 billion in November, Wall Street advisory firm Merrill Lynch reported.

The $21 billion represents the total amount Halliburton currently expects to receive from military contracts awarded by governments around the world, including contracts for restoring Iraq's oil infrastructure and conducting military-related research at New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory. Forty percent of the military business is from the U.S. Army's LOGCAP III contract, awarded to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary in December 2001.

Under LOGCAP III, KBR is responsible for providing supplies and services to the military. Typical civil logistics carried out under the contract include construction of military housing for the troops, transporting food and supplies to military bases and and managing and serving food at military cafeterias.

LOGCAP is the most valuable contract awarded by the Army and Halliburton's most lucrative government contract. At least 55 KBR employees have been killed in Iraq. Most of those employees were carrying out KBR's LOGCAP contract by driving trucks carrying military supplies.

The $21 billion represents only a current estimate of the total amount Halliburton expects to receive from its military businesses. But this amount could rise or fall in the future as war conditions escalate or diminish.

A report from Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) shows Halliburton has currently been paid $10 billion from the Army for work under the "LOGCAP" and "Restore Iraqi Oil" infrastructure contracts in Iraq.

Most of this money takes the form of reimbursements to KBR for expenses it incurs. KBR's profit is derived by charging the military a fee equal to a percentage of those reimbursements.

The contracts work like this: KBR purchases goods and services out of its own pocket to perform contracts, then it is reimbursed by the military for those expenses. It is then paid a fee (its profit) of one to seven percent of the value of those expenses.

This arrangement is known as "cost-plus" since the military reimburses KBR for its "costs," but then pays a percentage (the "plus") of one to seven percent ontop of that cost.

Critics say KBR has an incentive to artificially inflate costs in order to increase the amount of its fee paid by the military. The higher Halliburton's costs are, the larger its profits will be.

Halliburton's $21 billion in revenues is derived from the following sources:

U.S. Army's LOGCAP contract, 40 percent
United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense, 15 percent
U.S. Army's "Restore Iraqi Oil" (RIO) infrastructure contract, 12 percent
Balkans contract, 9 percent
United States Central Command (CENTCOM), 7 percent
U.S. Army's "Project Contracting Office" (PCO) oil infrastructure contract, 6 percent
"Other," 5 percent
Los Alamos National Laboratory, 4 percent
U.S. Navy's CONCAP contract, 2 percent

 
Switzerland shuts down Halliburton bank accounts used for 'bribery'

3 Dec. 2004

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- The government of Switzerland shut down bank accounts allegedly used by Halliburton for bribing the Nigerian government, the Associated Press (AP) reported today. Investigators believe Halliburton's KBR subsidiary and three other firms paid $180 million in bribes over a number of years to win a multibillion dollar construction contract from the Nigerian government. Halliburton and the other firms ultimately won that contract in 1995, but deny paying bribes.

According to the AP, the accounts that were shut down by Switzerland contain funds worth $100 million. The AP reported that the accounts were shut down "after France asked Switzerland to grant judicial assistance for its investigation" of the bribery scandal. The French government has been investigating the bribery allegations since October 2003. The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting an investigation as well. The Nigerian government is considered one of the most corrupt governments in the world. It is difficult for companies to do business without paying bribes to government officials, critics say.

U.S. and French law forbid companies from bribing foreign officials. Under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act it is a crime for corporations to bribe foreigners to win government contracts.

Some of the bribes were allegedly paid during the period when U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was chief executive of Halliburton. His involvement in the scandal is still unclear, but he could be subpoenaed for questioning by French investigators.

Although the AP concluded that Halliburton "hasn't found any evidence that supports claims of bribery," Halliburton did find evidence that bribes "may" have been paid to officials in the Nigerian government.