NEWS

WASHINGTON, June 18 (HalliburtonWatch.org) - Halliburton ended its relationship with former KBR chairman, Jack Stanley, because he violated the company's "code of business conduct" by accepting "improper personal benefits" related to construction work in Nigeria. KBR is a subsidary of Halliburton. Another, unidentified, consultant and former employee was also terminated for the same reason.

The French, British and United States governments are investigating allegations that KBR and three other companies paid $180 million in bribes to the government of Nigeria in exchange for receiving a $5 billion contract to build a natural gas plant. Some of that bribe money was allegedly kicked-back to members of the conspiracy, including Stanley who was chairman of KBR at the time. The Swiss bank account controlled by Stanley allegedly received between three and five percent of the bribery payments, which were made between 1995 and 2002, according to French investigators. Although Stanley retired as chairman of KBR in December 2003, he was retained as a consultant and kept an office at Halliburton until today.

"While we do not know all of the facts related to the issue, we are taking these actions in response to the facts that we do have and to protect our investors, employees, customers and vendors as several investigations proceed," said Dave Lesar, chairman, president and CEO of Halliburton. "It is important to the company that clients, suppliers and host countries know Halliburton's Code of Business Conduct is expected to be followed in every country in which the company operates."

The bribery payments were made by TSKJ. Halliburton's KBR subsidiary owns 25 percent of TSKJ, which is a private company registered in Madeira, Portugal whose members are Technip SA of France, Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V., which is an affiliate of ENI SpA of Italy, and JGC Corporation of Japan.

Halliburton's press release said the company "does not believe it has violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, although there can be no assurance that the government or the Company's internal investigation will not conclude otherwise."

More Information

Halliburton Watch: Bribing Nigeria
Halliburton Watch: France investigating former Halliburton executive in bribery probe