Bush tolerates gross corruption by Halliburton, Cheney's own company which is ripping off billions from US taxpayers. This is a list of just what is already proven and has come out. Tip of the iceberg.
Corporate Patriotism or War Profiteering?: Halliburton/KBR Government Contracts Timeline
2/10/2004
Kuwait's energy minister asked for an investigation into allegations of overcharging and profiteering in the contract between Halliburton's KBR and a Kuwait contractor, Altanmia, to import fuel into Iraq. ("Kuwait to Probe Halliburton Charges," WSJ, 2/10/2004)
2/10/2004
The Army Corps acknowledged that an individual, the "source selection authority," in the Corps - not an evaluation team as earlier asserted - made the decision to award Halliburton contracts for new work in Iraq, ithout consulting experts in other agencies. (Larry Margasak, "Army Changes Story on Halliburton Award," AP, 2/10/2004)
2/5/2004
Justice Department Investigators asked Halliburton for documents related to allegations of foreign bribery in connection with a $4.9 billion construction project of a large natural-gas plant in Nigeria. The inquiry under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act could lead to criminal penalties and the SEC could impose civil fines of $2.5 million for each violation of the Act. (Russell Gold and John Wilke, Data Sought in Halliburton Inquiry," WSJ, 2/5/2004)
2/4/2004
After agreeing to repay more than $16 million for meal overcharges in Kuwait, Halliburton notified the DOD that it overbilled by $11.4 million last year at 4 other dining sites in the region. As a result KBR will repay the government $28 million. (Neil King, "Halliburton to Repay US Nearly $28 Million on Meals Bills," WSJ 2/4/2003)
Britain awarded KBR a 7-year contract valued at $21.8 million for running the supply chain for shipping military equipment to British troops.(Neil King, WSJ, 2/4/2004)
2/2/2004
KBR over-charged $16 million for meals served to troops in Iraq at Camp Arifijan a large US military base in Kuwait; Saudi sub-contractor Tamimi Global hired by KBR billed 42,000 meals/day in July and served 14,000 meals/day.
The Pentagon has extended its audit of KBR food services to include 53 other dining facilities in Kuwait and Iraq where KBR subcontractors feed more than 130,000 US military and diplomatic personnel.
The US government has funded $9 billion in Iraq reconstruction costs and expects to award contracts at $18.6 billion. The Congressional GAO and the Pentagon are now completing large-scale investigations of all US-funded reconstruction work in Iraq. (Neil King, Halliburton Hits Snafu on Billing in Kuwait, WSJ, 2/2/2003; CNNMoney Halliburton in $16M Food Probe)
[Note: the overcharge for one month = $3.5 million. US paid to KBR $30 million for meals at the camp for January-July 2003 - nearly 4 million meals were billed but not served. The $16 million overcharge = 53% of the billed meals. If total Iraq contracts are expected to be $27.6 billion at 53% errors across contracts overcharges could = $14.6 billion.]
1/26/2004
KBR & Halliburton awarded a contract valued at $1.2 billion to continue rebuilding Iraq's damaged oil infrastructure
1/26/2004
Democratic presidential candidates called for Congress to hold hearings on Halliburton's activities in Iraq after the disclosure that 2 employees had been fired for taking kickbacks from a Kuwait subcontractor in a $6.3 million overcharging scheme. (Neil King, Congress Hears More Calls to Probe Halliburton, WSJ, 1/26/2004)
1/24/2004
An engineering firm owned by Halliburton in a joint venture TSKJ (with French, Italian and Japanese companies), got a contract for $6.7 billion to construct a complex of buildings that would produce liquefied natural-gas in Nigeria. A judge in Paris is investigating allegations that LNG Services (a subsidiary owned by the joint venture) made payments of $180 million in bribes between 1995 and 2002 to pave the way for this contract. Under French law Cheney can be charged with "misuse of corporate assets" for bribes paid by employees. The maximum] penalty is 5 years in prison and $472,000. (Jim Lander and Richard Whittle, "Cheney Isn't Focus of French Inquiry of Nigeria Gas Project," LA Times, 1/24/2004)
[Note: TSKJ is incorporated in the Portuguese island of Madeira, long known as a tax haven. KBR has a larger share in the joint venture than the other 3 companies]
1/23/04
Halliburton to pay Pentagon $6.3 million in overcharges by a subcontractor accused of giving kickbacks to supply US soldiers in Iraq. Senator Lautenberg called for all Halliburton contracts to be cancelled. (CBS News) Halliburton told the Pentagon that 2 employees took kickbacks valued at $6 million in return for awarding a Kuwait company lucrative work supplying US troops in Iraq. (Neil King, "Halliburton Tells Pentagon Workers Took Kickbacks to Award Projects in Iraq," WSJ, 1/23/2004)
1/22/2004
Pentagon's fuel unit, the Defense Energy Support Center, solicited bids for 3 fuel-delivery contracts to replace work that KBR is now performing. (Neil King, WSJ, 1/23/2004)
1/19/2004
US Defense Department Auditors ask for widening a probe into Halliburton's handling of a contract for oil-related work in Iraq. At the same time another arm of the Pentagon awarded the company a competitively bid contract valued at $1.2 billion. (Susan Warren, "Halliburton Wins New Iraq Contract Amid US Probe," WSJ, 1/1/9/2004)
1/16/2004
Defense Energy Support Center, responsible for fuel imports, posted a request for proposal for a management and oversight team to replace Halliburton's KBR. The contractor would be responsible for oil imports in 4 areas of Iraq as well as Turkey, Kuwait, and Jordan and interface with DOD, US civilian reconstruction officials and the Iraq Ministry of Oil. (Deadline for submission is Feb. 17 with awards expected in early March.) (Tom Ichniowski, Andrew Wright, Debra Rubin and Tom Armistead, "Reconstruction in Iraq," Engineering News, 1/26/2004))
1/16/2004
Army Corps of Engineers awarded Halliburton's KBR a contract valued at up to $1.2 billion to continue rebuilding Iraq's damaged oil infrastructure in southern Iraq. The Corps awarded a contract valued at up to $800 million to a joint venture of Parsons, and Worley Group (Sydney, Australia) for similar work in northern Iraq. (Ichniowski, et al. "Reconstruction in Iraq," Engineering News, 1/26/2004)
1/15/2004
Defense Department's top auditor asked the Pentagon to open a formal investigation into whether Halliburton overcharged for fuel deliveries into Iraq. Simultaneously it is disclosed that Army Corps of Engineers officials, on 12/19/2003 (see below) absolved Halliburton for allegedly overcharging the government $100 million for gas prices in Iraq. (Neil King, "Pentagon Auditor requests Probe of Halliburton," WSJ, 1/15/2004)
1/13/2004
In an audit of KBR's performance in providing fuel to Iraq from outside the country for power production and commercial use, the Defense Contract Audit Agency referred an issue of alleged KBR over-billing of fuel charges to the DOD Inspector General as a "suspected irregularity" found in the audit. (Ichniowski, et al. "Reconstruction in Iraq," Engineering News, 1/26/2004)
In a Jan.13 memo sent to Army contracting officer, a Defense Contract Audit Agency labels as "inadequate" KBR's system for accurately estimating the cost of ongoing work in order to justify payments. The Pentagon had rejected 2 huge bills from KBR, including one for $2.7 billion, because of myriad "deficiencies." (Neil King, WSJ, 1/23/2004)
1/12/2004
Expanding space exploration of Mars is a long-time aspiration of the national aerospace industry and of Halliburton in particular. Research intensified in 2001 with Halliburton engaging in proprietary research on advanced technologies such as laser-powered drills. An old 1998 clip form the Petroleum News anticipates drilling on the planet in 2007 and a 2014 Mars mission that would put astronauts on the planet to assist in drilling for oil.(Joe Conason, "Halliburton on Mars: Take Me to Your CEO," Salon.Com, 1/12/2004)
1/6/2004
Evidence of increasing friction between the Army Corps, the Army's civil engineering arm that oversees construction projects, and the Pentagon auditors in charge of oversight on Halliburton and other DOD contractors. (Neil King, "Army Corp Clear Halliburton in Flap Over Fuel Pricing, WSJ, 1/6/2004)
12/19/2003
Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers, Commander of the Army Corp of Engineers cleared Halliburton's KBR of wrongdoing in a Kuwait fuel-delivery contract, finding that KBR provided enough data to show it had purchased the fuel and delivery to Iraq at a "fair and reasonable" price. The ruling is technically known as a "waiver" because it waives a requirement that Halliburton provide data justifying its pricing. (Neil King, "Army Corps Clears Halliburton in Flap Over Fuel Pricing in Iraq, WSJ, 1/6/2004)
Rep. Waxman called the Flowers ruling "incomprehensible" and said "it appears the administration is deliberately sabotaging the government's ability to audit Halliburton."
But the Army Corps said the ruling was necessary to allow KBR to continue to deal with Altanmia at a time when the need for gasoline in Iraq was high. (Neil King, WSJ, 1/6/2004)
12/19/2003
Army Corp memo requests ruling on KBR's refusal to turn over internal documents on Iraq fuel contract. (Neil King, WSJ, 1/6/2004)
12/10/2003
A breakdown of fuel costs, contained in Army Corps documents shows that Halliburton charged $2.64 a gallon for fuel it imported from Kuwait and $1.24 per gallon for fuel from Turkey. The Iraqi state oil company and the Pentagon's Defense Energy Support Center both import fuel from Kuwait for less than half of Halliburton's price. Halliburton justified the costs as needed to deal with added security and sabotage in the form of damaged property. Halliburton's sub- contractor had more than 20 trucks damaged or stolen, 9 drivers injured and one driver killed when making fuel runs into Iraq. The over charge by the subcontractor was passed through to the government on 61 million gallons of fuel, amounting to $61 million in overcharges. (Don Van Natta, "A Region Inflamed: High Payments to Halliburton for Fuel in Iraq," NYT, 12/10/2003 The Defense Contract Audit Agency accused KBR of refusing to turn over documents that would show that the company was aware of internal accounting problems related to the overcharge on the fuel-delivery contract. The government- owned Kuwaiti Petroleum Co refused to allow Altanmia to provide KBR or the US government any cost data related to the fuel contract. (Neil King, WSJ, 1/6/2004)
Oct. 2003
Pentagon inspection report documents unsanitary conditions at mess halls and kitchens run by Halliburton in Iraq. The report complains that Halliburton was to have fixed these conditions but had failed to. (Paul Krugman, "Patriots and Profits" NYT, 12/16/2003; NBC News Report)
10/23-24/2003
Finance ministers from around the world met at the Madrid Donor Conference to discuss the reconstruction of Iraq.
Sept. 2003
The Bush administration asked Congress for $125 million to repair the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in southern Iraq - an amount that was 65% over the Halliburton estimate for the work of $75.7 million; the administration asked for $70 million to repair damaged pipeline along the Tigris River - estimated by KBR at $29.8 million. (Jeff Garth and Don Van Natta, "The Struggle for Iraq: Postwar Rebuilding, NYT, 12/28/2003)
Aug. 2003
A closed Pentagon workshop on Iraq's oil infrastructure was held at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, FA. The 3-day conference included officials from the CPA, the Army Corps, other government agencies and executives from KBR and other contractors that were currently working in Iraq. (Jeff Garth and Don Van Natta, "The Struggle for Iraq: Postwar Rebuilding," NYT, 12/28/2003)
July 2003
Halliburton estimated the repair of the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in southern Iraq would cost $75.7 million, in documents that Halliburton submitted to the Army Corps. An estimate for KBR to replace damaged pipelines along the Tigris River was $29.8 million. (Garth and Van Natta, NYT, 12/28/2003)
May 2003
KBR sought bids for a subcontract to supply fuel to Iraq. The government-owned Kuwaiti Petroleum Co., which controls all domestic oil sales, refused to allow any subcontractor other than Altanmia to perform the work. Little is known about Altanmia, other than that it is controlled by a prominent Kuwaiti merchant family. Its main business includes real estate and government work with the Kuwaiti military. (Neil King, "Army Corps Clears Halliburton in Flap Over Fuel Pricing in Iraq, WSJ, 1/6/2004)
5/8/2003
KBR paid a Nigerian tax official $2.4 million in bribes to get favorable tax treatment, Halliburton admitted this bribe. This was reported to the SEC after an audit of the KBR Nigerian office. The foreign subsidiary would pay accrued taxes owed in Nigeria - as much as $5 million. (Oliver Burkeman, "Cheney Firm Paid Millions in Bribes to Nigerian Official," The Guardian, 5/9/2003)
4/30/2003
20 shareholder class-action lawsuits accusing Halliburton of using deceptive accounting practices while Cheney led the company are settled for $6 million. Halliburton does not admit any wrongdoing (Associated Press, 5/31/2003)
4/22/2003
KBR did not actually put Iraqi oil well fires out during the Iraq war as contracted under the March 8th contract with the DOD (see below), it subcontracted the work to Boots & Coots International Well Control (Houston, TX) and Wild Well Control (Harvey, LA). (LA Times, "After the War: Getting Oil Pumping," 4/23/2003)
March 2003
In March 2003 the Army placed five task orders worth up to $7 billion with Halliburton under a 2001 Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) contract. They were all no-bid, sole-source arrangements. (Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, "Multiple Corporate Personality Disorder: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2003,"Multinational Monitor, December 2003)
3/26/2003
Congressman Henry Waxman launches an inquiry into the US Army Corps of Engineers' secret award of no-bid contract to extinguish oil well fires in Iraq. The contract has a cost ceiling of $7 billion, with profits up to 7% ($490 million). (Waxman letter to Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers, 3/26/2003)
3/24/2003
The Pentagon and Halliburton announced a KBR contract made on March 8 to extinguish oil fires, evaluate and repair Iraq's petroleum infrastructure. Estimated cost: up to $7 billion over 2 years. (Iraq reconstruction Tracker at reconstructiontracker@earthlink.net)
3/23/2003
Thousands of Halliburton employees work alongside US troops in Kuwait and Turkey. KBR is also supporting operations in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Georgia, Jordan and Uzbekistan. The overall anticipated costs of task orders awarded since the contract awarded in Dec. 2001 (LOGCAP) is approximately $830 million. (Pratap Chatterjee, Halliburton Makes a Killing in Iraq War, www.corpwatch.org 3/20/2003)
3/8-24/2003
Without competitive bidding or notice to Congress the US Army Corps of Engineers entered into an open-ended cost-plus contract with KBR, the contract was not disclosed publicly until March 24, 2003. In reply to questions about lack of competition in the bidding the administration made two arguments: (1) to invite other contractors to compete to perform a highly classified requirement would be a wasteful duplication of effort; and (2) only KBR Services could begin implementing the plan on extremely short notice. CBS reports that other qualified companies attempted to bid on the contract but were shut out of the process. (CBS News, Halliburton: All in the Family, 4/27/2003)
2/7/2003
(2 days after Secretary of State Colin Powell attempted to convince the UN Security Council of Iraq's evasion of weapons inspections.) Between Feb. 7 and March 4 the US Agency for International Development issued 9 procurement actions for reconstruction work in Iraq. (Iraq Reconstruction Tracker at reconstructiontracker@earthlink.net)
Pre-Iraq
The Navy hired Halliburton to build prison camps for terrorists in Guantanamo 2003 War Bay for $37 million. The State Department hired Halliburton to build a new embassy in Afghanistan for $100 million. And a secret task force picked Halliburton to receive a noncompetitive $7 billion contract to repair Iraq's oil fields. (Peter Carlson, "The Profitable Connections Of Halliburton," Washington Post, 2/10/2004)
Nov. 2002
Halliburton was asked to plan the management of Iraq's postwar oil industry. (Garth and Van Natta, NYT, 12/28/2003)
11/15/2002
Office of the Secretary of Defense awarded a classified oil field plan work order to Halliburton worth $1.8 million (Work Order # TO 0031)
Sept. 2002
KBR was granted a contract to fix Iraq's oil industry (3/24/2003) by a secret Bush administration task force formed in September 2002 to plan for Iraq's oil industry in the event of war. The task force, led by an aide to Douglas Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy, quickly concluded that the government alone could not meet the oil needs in Iraq. (Garth and Van Natta, NYT, 2/28/2003)
2002
Halliburton 2002 Annual Report: "We expect growth opportunities to exist for additional security and defense support to government agencies in the US and other countries. Demand for these services is expected to grow as a result of the armed conflict in the Middle East and as government agencies seek to control costs and promote efficiencies by outsourcing these functions. We expect growth due to more demands created by increased efforts to combat terrorism and enhance home security." (p.6)
1990s
Under Cheney, the Pentagon paid Halliburton $3.9 million for a study on how to privatize military logistics support services and paid Halliburton $5 million more to do a follow-up study. Then it hired Halliburton to provide these services. In Somalia, Halliburton earned $109 million, in the Balkans, it earned $2.2 billion. (Peter Carlson, Washington Post, 2/10/2004)
Halliburton was accused of overcharging the US government for work done in Balkans in the 1990's and in 2002 paid a $2 million settlement in response to accusations it had defrauded the government. (Bob Herbert, The Halliburton Shuffle, NYT, Op-Ed, 1/20/2004; GAO Report: Contingency Operations: Army Should Do More to Control Contract Cost in the Balkans, September 2000; Peter Singer, Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, 2003) |
