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| Army extends Halliburton's deadline for justifying expenses
16 Aug. 2004
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- The U.S. Army has given Halliburton more time to explain why it billed taxpayers for work that was apparently never undertaken or completed. The Pentagon recently told Halliburton's KBR subsidiary that $1.8 billion in bills from the company's work in the the Middle East are not verifiable. The $1.8 billion represents 43 percent of Halliburton's total bills submitted to the Pentagon for reimbursement. The company was given until Aug. 15 (yesterday) to justify those bills, but failed to meet that deadline. It also failed to meet two previous deadlines that had been extended, Reuters reported. If Halliburton fails to justify its expenses, the Pentagon can withhold up to 15 percent of requested reimbursements. The Army estimated that KBR work orders with a future value of $8.2 billion could be affected by a 15 percent withholding, or $60 million per month. So far, Halliburton has received $4.3 billion from the Pentagon for its work under the Army's LOGCAP contract. Under LOGCAP, Halliburton's KBR subsidiary is charged with feeding the troops, transporting military supplies and personnel, and constructing military housing -- mostly in Iraq and Kuwait. |