The oil company run by US
vice-president Dick Cheney before he
became George W Bush's running
mate, is being investigated by the US
Securities & Exchanges Commission for
accounting irregularities.
Halliburton, where Mr Cheney was
chairman and chief executive until July
2000, has also been warned by ratings
agency Standard & Poor's that it could
face liquidity problems because of its
financial structures.
The SEC is probing whether Halliburton
reported over $100m (£70m) of
disputed costs on big oil contracts as
revenues so that it could prop up its
profits while negotiating a merger with
a rival.
The controversial accounting took place
in 1998 when Mr Cheney was chief
executive. At the time, the group's
accounts were audited by Arthur
Andersen, auditors to the
scandal-ridden Enron and WorldCom.
Since Mr Cheney left the group, Halliburton has launched a financial
restructuring which is due to be completed this summer. S&P has raised
concerns about the shake-up and has warned that Halliburton could face
a credit deterioration, which could harm the financial future of the group.
The problems at Halliburton are potentially a massive embarrassment to
the US president, who on Friday launched an attack on corporate America
in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals.
Mr Bush, who only last summer accepted a $100,000 donation from
WorldCom, warned that big companies cannot "fudge the numbers" and
hope to get away with it.
His attack followed the revelation of a $3.8bn fraud at WorldCom, which
redesignated costs as investment in assets. On Friday the markets were
rocked by a restatement of earnings at Xerox totalling some $6.4bn.
And Watts is bailing just like W's lady advisor....before even MORE sh*t hits the fan....like this one.
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