Halliburton to pay $250 million to get Cheney bribery charges dropped!
ABUJA, Nigeria - December 14, 2010 - The massive industrial conglomerate Halliburton has reportedly offered to pay $250 million to settle charges against its former chief executive, ex-Vice President Dick Cheney, in a multi-million dollar bribery case.
Nigeria filed charges against Cheney this week in an investigation of alleged bribery estimated at $180 million. Prosecutors named both Halliburton and KBR in the charges, as well as three European oil and engineering companies - Technip SA, EniSpa, and Saipem Construction. Eleven Halliburton officials were arrested last month and freed on bail November 29.
The charges allege that engineering contractor KBR, until 2007 a subsidiary of Halliburton, was among companies that paid bribes to secure a $6 billion contract for a natural gas plant. KBR pleaded guilty to the same bribes in a U.S. court in 2009, and agreed to pay a $382 million fine. The Nigerian charges appear to stem from the U.S. case - though, in that trial, Cheney was never directly charged.
The $250 million figure would include a direct $130 million fine by the company and an agreement to repatriate another $120 million from Switzerland.
Representatives for Cheney and Halliburton met with Nigerian officials in London over the weekend.
