Washington, DC — Halliburton, the giant Texas based energy company once directed by Vice President Dick Cheney, acknowledged this week it paid a $2.4 million bribe to a Nigerian government official in return for tax breaks related to operations in the West African country.
"One of our foreign subsidiaries operating in Nigeria made improper payments of approximately $2.4 million to an entity owned by a Nigerian national who held himself out as a tax consultant when in fact he was an employee of a local tax authority," Halliburton disclosed in a public filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency which regulates publicly trade companies.
"We have reported to the SEC that the payments were made to obtain favorable tax treatment and clearly violated our Code of Business Conduct and our internal control procedures."
In the "10-Q filing" to the SEC for the first quarter of 2003, Halliburton insisted that no senior officers were involved in this incident and that several employees who allegedly were involved in the bribe have been fired. The story was first reported today by the British newspaper The Guardian.
"We are cooperating with the SEC in its review of the matter," Halliburton wrote in making this disclosure. "We plan to take further action to ensure that our foreign subsidiary pays all taxes owed in Nigeria, which may be as much as an additional $5 million, which has been fully accrued."
Although the filing did not specify the dates the bribes were paid, the company said in response to a query from AllAfrica that the payments were made during 2001 and 2002 by the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Cheney was chief executive officer of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, when he left to join the Bush campaign.
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Full Statement in the text reads:
Improper payments reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We have reported to the SEC that one of our foreign subsidiaries operating in Nigeria made improper payments of approximately $2.4 million to an entity owned by a Nigerian national who held himself out as a tax consultant when in fact he was an employee of a local tax authority. The payments were made to obtain favorable tax treatment and clearly violated our Code of Business Conduct and our internal control procedures. The payments were discovered during an audit of the foreign subsidiary. We have conducted an investigation assisted by outside legal counsel.
Based on the findings of the investigation we have terminated several employees. None of our senior officers were involved. We are cooperating with the SEC in its review of the matter. We plan to take further action to ensure that our foreign subsidiary pays all taxes owed in Nigeria, which may be as much as an additional $5 million, which has been fully accrued. The integrity of our Code of Business Conduct and our internal control procedures are essential to the way we conduct business.
