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To: RealMuLan who wrote (55755)	11/8/2004 3:35:24 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Halliburton Says Nigeria Payments Were Possible By RUSSELL GOLD Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL November 8, 2004; Page A5 Halliburton Co., part of a consortium under investigation into whether it bribed foreign officials to win a multibillion construction contract, said in a filing "that payments may have been made to Nigerian officials." In the same quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Halliburton said that a continuing U.S. Department of Justice grand jury probe has expanded to look at least one project in addition to the Nigerian natural-gas complex at the center of the investigation. The statement acknowledging bribes may have been paid appears to go further than Halliburton's previous statements on the subject. In September, Halliburton disclosed that it had discovered handwritten notes suggesting consortium executives had considered bribing Nigerian officials. Halliburton attributed the possibility to government and other investigations. Still, company officials yesterday emphasized that its internal investigation had yet to produce any proof of actual bribes. "We still have no evidence that supports there were any bribes paid," says Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall. The investigation concerns a plant on the coast of Nigeria that turns natural gas into liquid so it can be shipped to overseas markets. Halliburton, through a company it acquired in 1998, is part of four-company consortium building the plant. Government investigations in the U.S., France and Nigeria are all trying to determine whether the consortium paid bribes through a British lawyer in order to secure the contract to build the plant. In addition, Halliburton has requested that the other three members of the consortium also launch internal probes. For the past year, investigators have tried to determine why the consortium paid Jeffrey Tesler, a British lawyer, $132 million and whether the payments were intended to funnel bribes to the Nigerian political elite. An attorney for Mr. Tesler said that the money was for legitimate business practices and that he had done nothing wrong. In connection with the probes, Halliburton fired Albert J. "Jack" Stanley, then the chairman of its Kellogg Brown & Root business unit, earlier this year for taking an "improper" payment in connection with the Nigeria natural-gas plant. Investigators believe he received $5 million. The Justice Department investigation is trying to determine whether Mr. Stanley received payments on projects other than the Nigeria natural-gas plant, according to Halliburton's SEC filing. An attorney for Mr. Stanley decline to comment. The Justice Department investigation is also looking at other projects, possibly including the construction of a fertilizer plant in Nigeria that Mr. Stanley and M. W. Kellogg were involved in, according to Halliburton. In 1998, Halliburton acquired Dresser Industries Inc. and combined M. W. Kellogg into what is now called Kellogg Brown & Root. Vice President Dick Cheney, Halliburton's chief executive from 1995 to 2000, orchestrated the merger and picked Mr. Stanley for a top post. ... Write to Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com. online.wsj.com