KBR pleads guilty in Nigerian bribery scheme

KBR pleads guilty in Nigerian bribery scheme

m.apnews.com

By JUAN A. LOZANO
Published: 12 minutes ago

HOUSTON (AP) - A former Halliburton Co. subsidiary pleaded guilty Wednesday to bribing Nigerian government officials to obtain contracts valued at more than $6 billion.

Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by authorizing and paying bribes from 1995 to 2004 for contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria.

"The successful prosecution of KBR, and its agreement to pay a more than $400 million fine, demonstrates that no one is above the law, and that the Department is determined to seek penalties that are commensurate with, and will deter, this kind of serious criminal misconduct," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin with the Justice Department's criminal division.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is no surprise. This is a subsidiary to the corrupt former Vice-President Richard Cheney. It is not surprise that Halliburton is also in hot water for a few bad deals in Iraq, and at some point charges may be leveled against Halliburton as well on similar charges, as well as defrauding the government with it's no bid contracts, which could also open up a conflict of interest case against Dick Cheney.

And the evidence just keeps on mounting.

m.apnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

So they made 6 billion and it cost them 400 million? Sounds like good business to me.

line 2

[edit on 11-2-2009 by pipefitter]

It is still corruption. It isn't about the money made it is about HOW it was made. Unless, of course, you mean to say that a wimpy $400 million fine would hurt them at all. It's more of an investment and a token gesture by the Justice Dept.

Ok so Nigeria is suing American company's.
Does this open up the way for Americans, to sue Nigerians for stealing our money on the internet?

There's no way to do business in Nigeria without paying bribes. Gees, I wish some of these folks would actualy learn what its like to do business in these fourth world dictatorships!!


Zindo

[edit on 2/11/2009 by ZindoDoone]

But it is a US law that this falls under. And therefore lawbreakers such as these should be tried in a court of law as would be expected. Just because it is ok in Nigeria to do fraudulent business doesn't mean it's ok here(I say this tongue in cheek.)