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Blacklisting:
Halliburton lobbies
Abuja
By Chinedu
Offor
Correspondent,
Washington D.
C.
Halliburton, the oil services
firm based in the United States with extensive operations in Nigerian
, has begun negotiations with
Abuja to reverse its
blacklisting from doing business in the country, a Daily
Independent
investigation has shown.
Sources said the company is using "a highly
influential former Nigerian military ruler" to convince Aso Rock to soften its stance on alleged
sharp practices levelled against it.
The man is said to have
extensive interests in Halliburton and its subsidiaries and would lose
substantial revenue if the government maintains its position.
The plan appears to be working
as several Halliburton officials have
expressed optimism that "the intense lobbying of the Nigerian authorities through the retired
general is paying off following indications that the government may have struck a deal with the
company, famous for its close ties with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
It was learnt that the deal
calls for "the company to acknowledge it would have done a better job of
supervising the activities of its subsidiaries in Nigeria, but would stop
shy of admitting any wrong doing because of the implication of such
admission on on-going worldwide
investigation of the company's activities".
Halliburton is under scrutiny
in several countries such as Nigeria, the U.S. France, Britain, the Middle
East and Asia for a host of alleged crimes, including bribery, failure to
pay taxes and questionable accounting practices.
Sources said Halliburton wants
to maintain its dominance of
the Nigerian oil services sector because of its lucrative nature and
fears that governments of
other countries where it is under investigation are coming under increased pressure to
shut down its operations,
especially if U.S. President George Bush fails to win re-election, ending
the influence of Cheney who still receives some benefits from the
company.
As Halliburton fights for its life against outside
forces, sources said an
internal battle with shareholders
may hold more woes for
it.
A suit filed by several
shareholders in Dallas is going ahead. They accuse it of "intentionally
engaging in a series of accounting fraud", a far more serious charge than
those being prosecuted
by the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission.
The suit accuses Hallibufton
officials of "inflating revenue and being unable to account for over $3.1
billion of profit and cash�.
The shareholders also allege
that a Nigerian subsidiary of the company, Kelogg Brown and Root, inflated
results by boosting revenue or understating expenses.
Named as defendants are
former Chief Operating
Officer and serving CEO David Lesar, former Chief Financial Officer
Douglas Foshee, another
Financial Officer Gary Morris and former Controller Robert
Muchmore. The company has
consistently denied any wrong doing and has resolved to confront the allegations,
officials said.
Its Director of Public
Relations Wendy Hall insisted that Halliburton "will continue to work with the Nigerian government and
is committed to getting this
resolved. We believe, in
Nigeria and elsewhere, we have been inaccurately portrayed in the media, so it is not
surprising that some people may have a misimpression of
us.
�Halliburton has successfully
worked in Nigeria for more
than 40 years. In fact, 85 percent of our employees are local Nigerians and many of
our management positions are held by local
Nigerians".
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