Daily Independent Online.
*
Wednesday, June 30, 2004.
Two U.S. agencies join Halliburton probe
By Chinedu Offor
Correspondent,
Washington D.C.
Investigations into
the business activities of American oil services giant, Halliburton, in Nigeria
have intensified with two more government agencies joining in the probe.
The Justice Department
and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have quizzed top
officials of the company about payments
made in connection with the
construction of a natural gas liquefaction facility in the Niger Delta region.
It was learnt that the
investigations centre on whether Halliburton violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act, which is a fallout of allegations that the company bribed some
Nigerian officials to get the contract and that it did not pay taxes to Nigerian
Government.
The contract would
have been executed through a consortium called TSKJ, a limited liability
company registered in Madeira, Portugal whose members are Technip SA of France,
Snamprogetti Netherlands BV and affiliate of ENI SPA of Italy, JGC Corporation
of Japan, and Kellog Brown & Root of the US.
Because of the
multi-country nature of the investigations, a French magistrate is probing the
roles played by that country’s subsidiary of TSKJ.
Officials of
Halliburton said they are carrying out an internal inquiry of their own to
determine the complicity, if any, of its employees in the U.S. and Nigeria.
"While
Halliburton does not believe that it has violated the laws of the United
States, our internal investigation of these matters is ongoing and there can be
no assurance that government authorities would not conclude otherwise", a
Halliburton statement said.
The company, through TSKJ, had entered into various
contracts to build and expand the liquefied natural gas
project for Nigeria LNG Limited, jointly owned by the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),
Shell Gas BV, Cleg Limited,
an affiliate of Total, and Agip International BV.
