Liberal Repercussion

Halliburton is all over the news this week. Naughty, naughty little monkeys. Their greed is legendary. These fines are little more than an annoyance, though, and I doubt will deter Halliburton from continuing to bilk U.S. taxpayers.

When do corrupt business dealings finally arise to the level of public concern, under this administration? Not yet, apparently. (ENRON has yet to get any serious attention, even.)

Appears Halliburton was billing the Pentagon on that legendary no-limit, no-bid logistics contract based on numbers they pulled out of their ass, rather than numbers based on the actual services being provided. No problem, I guess. They just unbill a few million, a teensy oversight.

Never mind that Halliburton's fees actually are calculated from the cost of the services provided; the more they bill the US, they more they are paid. So billing on a SWAG means more money to Halliburton. Is THIS the economic recovery that asswipe in the Oval Office keeps referring to? Sheesh.



Halliburton in Pentagon payback
Halliburton, the giant US energy group once run by Vice-President Dick Cheney, has agreed to pay back $27.4m (£15m) to the Pentagon, US defence officials say.

The refund covers possible overcharging on a contract to supply meals to the US military in Iraq and Kuwait.

Halliburton has temporarily stopped charging the US military for meals until they agree on a better method.

UK defence officials said on Tuesday that Halliburton had won a £12m deal to ship military supplies to Iraq.

Fine-tuning

The potential overcharging had emerged during "routine evaluation of contract costs submitted for payment" by the Halliburton group's Kellogg Brown and Root subsidiary, according to Pentagon spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Rose-Ann Lynch.

"We are pleased KBR is willing to step forward to offer reimbursement in advance of any findings," Reuters news agency cited another Pentagon official as saying.

On Monday, Halliburton said KBR was working with the Pentagon auditors to "improve the counting method" for meals served to troops in the Middle East.

Halliburton said that "this is not any sort of admission" of wrongdoing.

It explained that meal bills for the US military had been drawn up on the basis of estimates, rather than actual meals served, and that this system was now being fine-tuned.

Halliburton has agreed to repay $16m of payments received for meals at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and $11.4m for meals at other camps in the region.

Under fire

Halliburton's activities in Iraq have attracted intense scrutiny from critics of the Iraq war on the look out for any signs of corporate favouritism from the Bush Administration. Vice President Dick Cheney headed Halliburton for five years, until 2000.

Halliburton has admitted to errors, sacking two KBR employees in Iraq last month for taking bribes worth up to $6m (£3.3m) from a Kuwaiti firm.

Pentagon officials from the Defense Contracting Audit Agency are checking allegations that KBR overcharged the US military for fuel deliveries to Iraq.

A spokeswoman for the UK's Ministry of Defence said KBR had won a logistics contract on the grounds of "performance, responsiveness and overall value for money", adding that the contract was subject to regular performance checks.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/3458249.stm


This is not the same overbilling issue as this OTHER incident where they managed to skate by, on the word of a Lieutenant General who affirms that KBR is innocent and blameless like a little lamb. *snort*



Halliburton 'off overcharging hook'
A senior US army officer has cleared the American engineering company Halliburton of any wrongdoing in relation to a contract to deliver fuel from Kuwait to Iraq, according to a newspaper report.

The Wall Street Journal says that the commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, Lieutenant General Robert Flowers, has exonerated the company's subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root after Defense Department officials complained that the government had been overcharged by $100m.

The newspaper reports that more junior officers told General Flowers that the company had provided data to show that fuel was delivered at a fair and reasonable price.

Political interest in the US in the allegations of overcharging was heightened by the fact that Halliburton used to be run by the Vice President, Richard Cheney.

posted by Rei Toei @ 5:17 p.m.