The charges center on an alleged $180 million bribery payment used to secure a $6 billion liquefied natural gas contract. Prosecutors are also looking into international companies Saipem and Technip. Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, before becoming George W. Bush's running mate. "As the CEO of Halliburton, he has the responsibility for acts that occurred during that period," Obla told the AFP.
Nigeria arrested 12 employees of Halliburton earlier in the week, reports Reuters. The firm's offices in Nigeria were raided by anti-corruption police, although the company said that the detentions "had no legal basis and that its employees had since been freed."
Nigeria's Guardian newspaper reported that charges against Cheney were confirmed by the government and included "criminal conspiracy. The prosecutor on the case said joint charges would be filed against Cheney along with the former and current leadership of Halliburton and others. "As the CEO of Halliburton, he has the responsibility for acts that occurred during that period," Obla told AFP.
Dick Cheney's Halliburton organisation consistently ranks high the United States as one of the countries most corrupt.
Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people.
Halliburton's major business segment is the Energy Services Group (ESG). ESG provides technical products and services for petroleum and natural gas exploration and production. Halliburton's former subsidiary, KBR, is a major construction company of refineries, oil fields, pipelines, and chemical plants. Halliburton announced on April 5, 2007 that it had finally broken ties with KBR, which had been its contracting, engineering and construction unit as a part of the company for 44 years.
Halliburton has become the object of several controversies involving the 2003 Iraq War and the company's ties to Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney retired from the company during the 2000 U.S. presidential election campaign with a severance package worth $36 million. The latest of troubles for Halliburton was the "Deepwater Horizon" Gulf oil spill, which was the U.S. biggest on record.
A gaunt looking Cheney (due too serious heart issues) does not look like he could sustain much of a court fight.
Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) has been quit busy in recent days issuing warrants, as earlier this week they initiated one for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange whom is dumping hundreds of thousands of secret documents gained from the bitter homosexual Bradley Manning.
A Cheney spokesperson told Reuters he had no comment, but would later today. It is important to note that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — of which Halliburton is a member — recently lobbied to weaken an important U.S. law that “stops American-based multinational firms from bribing foreign governments in order to win special business advantages,” as ThinkProgress detailed in October.
Here is a great thought readers....Dick Cheney and Julian Assange sharing the same prison cell, if only...........................
NFTOS
