Halliburton Will Pay Another Bribe to Keep Former CEO Out of Jail

Of course the Nigerians are calling the payment a "settlement" of the financial crime charges pending against former CEO and Regime hatchet man, Dick Cheney. This week the government of the notoriously corrupt oil state filed charges against Cheney for alleged bribery estimated at $180 million. The charges alleged that the former engineering subsidiary of Halliburton, KBR (Kellogg, Brown & Root), paid bribes to government officials to secure a $6 billion natural gas plant contract. KBR pleaded guilty in US court to the same bribes last year and paid a $382 million fine. If Cheney were convicted of the charges in the sixteen count indictment, he would face up to three years in a Nigerian prison. Nigeria does not recognize the familiar US legal concept of plea bargaining, so any settlement will be out of court. The possibility of yet another "deal" has enraged anti-corruption activists in Nigeria, although other foreign company executives have paid their way out of jail. Siemans AG agreed to pay $46.5 million last month to settle charges that it had bribed some Nigerian officials with €17.5 million. Bilfinger Berger AG, another German firm named in the same case as Halliburton, has already paid $26 million to have the charges against its executive dropped. Seems Nigeria has got it covered coming and going.