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We may have bribed Nigerian officials � Halliburton
Ayo Olesin with agency report
United States oil service firm, Halliburton has acknowledged that improper payments �may have been made� to Nigerian officials through the TSKJ Consortium, which won the Engineering, Procurement, Installation and Construction contracts for the six trains of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas Project located on Bonny Island, Bayelsa State.
Halliburton owns Kellog, Brown and Root, a member of the consortium, which is being investigated by Nigerian, French, British and US authorities over allegations of payments of bribes of about $180million to government officials to secure some of the contracts.
In a document dated Friday and filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates corporate activity, Halliburton said the US Justice Department had expanded its investigation into potential bribes through the TSKJ consortium.
�We understand from the ongoing governmental and other investigations that payments may have been made to Nigerian officials,� the company said in the SEC filing, according to Agence France Presse.
Halliburton observed that investigators were looking into the role by British lawyer, Mr. Jeffrey Tesler, who reportedly managed a slush fund and channeled as much as $132 million dollars from the consortium, and from Halliburton�s former consultant, Mr. Jack Stanley, fired in June.
Tesler has admitted before a French judge investigating the matter that he set up meetings between consortium representatives and top Nigerian government officials, including a former head of state.
�We understand that the Department of Justice has expanded its investigation to include whether Mr. Stanley may have received payments in connection with bidding practices on certain foreign projects,� Halliburton said.
TSKJ is a private limited company registered in Portugal comprising Technip of France, Snamprogetti Netherlands, an affiliate of the Italian energy group ENI, Japan Gas Corporation of Japan, and Kellogg Brown and Root, which was acquired by Halliburton in 1998.
The company is currently under investigation in the US for allegedly bribing Nigerian officials to win the lucrative NLNG project contract some 10 years ago.
The alleged payments, many of which occurred when Halliburton was being run by Mr. Dick Cheney, now the US vice president, helped a consortium including the US group to win a $12billion contract to build the giant gas processing and export terminal.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the House of representatives are also conducting investigations into the matter, which has become a source of embarrassment to the Obasanjo administration, still struggling to clean up the country�s battered image as one of the world�s most corrupt nations.
The PUNCH, Tuesday, November 9, 2004.
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