FBI probes Pentagon over Halliburton deals
 

It's about time that this happened. Now if they would only nail the Enron chief and the WorldComm guy! ;)

[quote]WASHINGTON - The FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton Co., seeking an interview with a top Army contracting officer and collecting documents from several government offices.

The line of inquiry expands an earlier FBI investigation into whether Halliburton overcharged taxpayers for fuel in Iraq, and it elevates to a criminal matter the election-year question of whether the Bush administration showed favoritism to Vice President Dick Cheney’s former company.

FBI agents this week sought permission to interview Bunnatine Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers’ chief contracting officer who went public last weekend with allegations that her agency [b]unfairly awarded a Halliburton subsidiary no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars in Iraq[/b], according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.[/quote]

[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6356265/[/url]

It's ok to have a monopoly on a product or sevice if cheney is involved.

Great, the fox guarding the chicken cupe. Don't get me wrong though, I'm glad that this is finally being looked into. Hopefully their findings prove to be valid and fair.

-Chirs

And the crumbling starts...

Actually it started a long time ago, but nobody seemed to care, between Halliburton and their subsidiery Kellog, Brown and Root (KBR), it should be clear to anyone with half a brain that bushcheney inc are the most corrupt and criminal administration the US has ever seen;


* In December 2003, Pentagon auditors uncovered a overcharge of $61 million by KBR on a contract to supply fuel for the military in Iraq. Halliburton was also suspected of overcharging by $67 million on food for military mess halls in Kuwait and Iraq.

* In January 2004, Halliburton repaid $6.3 million in overcharges and kickbacks for fuel contracts in Kuwait.
(wow 10%, gee thanks gang!)

* In February 2004, the Pentagon announced that Halliburton would repay it for $27 million in KBR overbilling for meals served to troops at five military bases in Kuwait and Iraq. The meals were never delivered.

* In March 2004, the Pentagon requested the Justice Department join the probe of overbilling, a strong indication that potential criminal fraud charges were at issue.

* In June 2004, Time magazine obtained and made public an internal Army Corps of Engineers e-mail from March 2003, reporting that the initial contract award to Halliburton had been “coordinated” with the office of Vice President Cheney.

* Later in June, press reports confirmed that a Bush political appointee, Michael Mobbs, was the Pentagon official who decided to award the initial planning job to KBR which facilitated its selection for the subsequent $7 billion implementation contract.

* In July 2004, a federal grand jury subpoenaed records of Halliburton’s subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, as part of an investigation into illicit dealings with Iran.

* In August 2004, a Pentagon audit found that $1.8 billion in billion by KBR for work in Iraq was inadequately documented and potentially unjustified. The Pentagon initially said it would withhold 15 percent of scheduled payments to KBR pending the result of an investigation—the usual procedure in such cases—but reversed the decision two days later.

* In September 2004, a federal judge in Dallas rejected a proposed $6 million settlement of a lawsuit by Halliburton stockholders charging the company with accounting fraud, suggesting that the penalty was far too small.

I love how Republicans still say Jr. and company are honest and doing things whats best for the US instead of there own intrest.