Dick Cheney will be charged in a Nigerian bribery case for $180 million. Nigerian authorities say illegal payments were made to Nigerian officials, during planning construction of a natural gas plant in Nigeria by Halliburton Inc.
Cheney was CEO of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000.
'As the CEO of Halliburton, he has the responsibility for acts that occurred during that period,' an official told AFP.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission detained 10 Halliburton staff for questioning after raiding the Lagos branch. Halliburton lawyers say Houston-based engineering firm KBR is to blame. Attorneys say the company was a former Halliburton unit and pleaded guilty last year to U.S. charges it paid $180 million in bribes during 1994 and 2004 to secure contracts.
Lawyers say the raid was unecessary and current actions of the company have nothing to do with KBR. In a statement the company said,
"As indicated in previous legal activity in the United States, one of the participants in the (Bonny Island) project was a subsidiary of Halliburton Company for part of that period of time,' it said in a statement last week.
'The Halliburton oil field services operations in Nigeria have never in any way been any part of the LNG project and none of the Halliburton employees have ever had any connection to or participation in that project,' it said.
Dick Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009, under George W. Bush.
Read more: http://www.thirdage.com/news/dick-cheney-face-180-m-charge_12-3-2010##ixzz173m99aLy
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