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Mephisto2 · 10-28-2004, 05:43 PM

Quote:

FBI probes how Halliburton won contracts
October 29, 2004 - 8:24AM

The FBI has begun investigating whether the US Defence Department 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 allegations Halliburton overcharged US taxpayers for fuel in Iraq.

It elevates to a criminal matter the election-year question of whether the Bush administration showed favouritism to Vice President Dick Cheney's former company.

FBI agents this week sought permission to interview Bunnatine Greenhouse, the US Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting officer who went public last weekend with allegations that her agency unfairly awarded KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars for work in Iraq.

Asked about documents obtained by The Associated Press, Greenhouse's lawyers said their client would cooperate but wanted whistleblower protection from Pentagon retaliation.

"I think it (the FBI interview request) underscores the seriousness of the misconduct, and it also demonstrates how courageous Ms Greenhouse was for stepping forward," said Stephen Kohn, one of her lawyers.

"The initiation of an FBI investigation into criminal misconduct will help restore public confidence," Kohn said.

"The Army must aggressively protect Ms Greenhouse from the retaliation she will encounter as a result of blowing the whistle on this misconduct."

FBI agents also recently began collecting documents from Army offices in Texas and elsewhere to examine how and why Halliburton got the no-bid work.

"The Corps is absolutely cooperating with the FBI, and it has been an ongoing effort," said Army Corps spokeswoman Carol Sanders.

"Our role is to cooperate. It's a public contract and public funds. We've been providing them information for quite a while."

Wendy Hall, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said the company was cooperating with various investigations, but she dismissed the latest revelation as election politics. She noted Congress' auditing arm, the Government Accountability Office, found the company's no-bid work in Iraq was legal.

"The old allegations have once again been recycled, this time one week before the election," Hall said.

"The GAO said earlier this year that the contract was properly awarded because Halliburton was the only contractor that could do the work.

"We look forward to the end of the election, because no matter who is elected president, Halliburton is proud to serve the troops just as we have for the past 60 years for both Democrat and Republican administrations," she said.

Democrats have tried hard to make Halliburton an election-year issue.

Senator Frank Altenberg, a Democrat on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee who has been investigating Halliburton's contracts, said his office was told the FBI recently sought documents from various government offices. The requests focused on how and why Halliburton got the Iraq contracts.

"This multi-billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton was suspicious from day one, and now our worst suspicions are confirmed," Altenberg said.

"The FBI doesn't get involved unless there are possible criminal violations."

In a formal whistleblower complaint filed last week, Greenhouse alleged the award of contracts without competition to KBR put at risk "the integrity of the federal contracting program as it relates to a major defence contractor."

The contracts were to restore Iraq's oil industry.

Among the evidence cited in the complaint was an internal 2003 Pentagon email that says the Iraq contract "has been coordinated" with Cheney's White House office.

The vice president, who continues to receive deferred compensation from when he was Halliburton's chief executive in the late 1990s, has steadfastly maintained he has played no role in the selection of his former company for federal business.

The Army last week referred Greenhouse's allegations to the Defence Department's inspector-general. Documents show FBI agents from Illinois asked Tuesday to interview Greenhouse. Her lawyers declined to discuss the contacts.

© 2004 AP

REF: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...992267266.html

Leaving the whole issue of WhiteHouse/Halliburton links aside for one moment, do you think Greenhouse has a political agenda or is "blowing the whistle" because she thinks it's the right thing to go?

With regards to the topic at hand, I think we'll end up with two different sets of opinions that closely resemble those of the Democratic party and the Administration. I guess there's no surprise there.

Mr Mephisto