Halliburton and KBR Being Investigated Finally?

Politics International Politics
1

Halliburton and KBR being investigated over allegations of massive ripping off and kick-backs arranged. As usual, another prosecutor is likely to bite the dust out of this one. One thing we’ve learned from the recent firings is that AGAG (Attorney General Alberto Gonzales) and the Bushies do not tolerate investigations into corruption.

[quote]Federal investigators have uncovered what they describe as a sweeping network of kickbacks, bribes and fraud involving at least eight employees and subcontractors of KBR, the former Halliburton subsidiary, in a scheme to inflate charges for flying freight into Iraq in support of the war, according to court papers unsealed yesterday.

The latest conviction in the cases related to the scheme came yesterday, when a former Houston-based executive for an air-freight carrier hired by KBR pleaded guilty in federal district court to dispensing bribes and then lying to federal investigators. The executive, Kevin Andre Smoot, 43, of The Woodlands, Tex., served as a managing director for Eagle Global Logistics Incorporated, a carrier that received a subcontract from KBR to ship the freight.[/quote]

At a time when our military supposedly “couldn’t” be given the armored humvees and trucks, the body armor, the IED jamming devices, etc. that they were begging America to give them, KBR and Halliburton sought to line its own f*cking pockets. Of course, the usual Halliburton defenders will probably crawl out of the woodworks on this one – but of course at this point they’re defending something pretty damn near treason even if not defined under the statutes as such.

Let’s just hope that the 2008 elections are about “values” because we can see where the scumbag Republicans all stand – united behind crony corporations. While outsourcing some functions to the private sector may work some of the time, of course we have to face the facts that these soulless assholes give more of a damn for the almighty buck than for the lives of any American soldier. Funny how Republicans used to always urge cutting down regulations and laws by which companies might be supervised by pretending that they would want to see harsh penalties applied. Now, just watch them do their best to provide hypocritical excuses for blatant wartime profiteering at the taxpayer expense now that it’s their golfing buddies who are facing trouble.

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Ups, we did it again - getting caught (Halliburton) and not acting against them even they knew (Pentagon):

[quote]Iraq Contractor: No bid, no taxes

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Being a subsidiary of Halliburton, even for a short time, comes with major benefits. At least that was the case with Kellogg Brown & Root, which thanks to its ties to Halliburton – and former Halliburton chief executive Vice President Dick Cheney – got no-bid contracts in Iraq in 2001 and 2002. If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait, we didn’t even attack Iraq until 2003,” you’re right. But there’s more (always is).

Shortly after Cheney took office, KBR set up one of the two Caribbean shell companies it uses to avoid paying hundreds of millions – The Boston Globe conservatively estimates the amount at $500 million – in Social Security taxes and Medicare. The first was set up years before.

Regardless, the Defense Department has known about KBR’s offshore scheme for about four years, but figured that falsely declaring its American employees as Cayman Islands employees saved KBR tax dollars, and that those savings would be passed on to the DOD. We’re guessing logic and ethics training aren’t required for those in the DOD who make these decisions because we’re actually worse off for lost taxes on those multibillion-dollar contracts and payments into the Medicare system.

Not all KBR employees understood the terms of their employment until they were either in Iraq or were rejected for unemployment benefits because they were employees of a foreign firm.

This war and all the fat business dealings behind it couldn’t smell worse if they were oozing out of a sewage drain in the slums of Bangladesh.[/quote]

[quote]Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore

Shell companies in Cayman Islands allow KBR to avoid Medicare, Social Security deductions

CAYMAN ISLANDS - Kellogg Brown & Root, the nation’s top Iraq war contractor and until last year a subsidiary of Halliburton Corp., has avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies based in this tropical tax haven.

[…]

The Defense Department has known since at least 2004 that KBR was avoiding taxes by declaring its American workers as employees of Cayman Islands shell companies, and officials said the move allowed KBR to perform the work more cheaply, saving Defense dollars.

But the use of the loophole results in a significantly greater loss of revenue to the government as a whole, particularly to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. And the creation of shell companies in places such as the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes has long been attacked by members of Congress.

[…]

In interviews with more than a dozen KBR workers registered through the Cayman Islands companies, most said they did not realize that they had been employed by a foreign firm until they arrived in Iraq and were told by their foremen, or until they returned home and applied for unemployment benefits.

[…][/quote]

[quote]War profiteering by tax dodge

FOR YEARS, companies more interested in profits than patriotism have registered overseas or used foreign subsidiaries to avoid US taxes. Now a major Pentagon contractor once managed by Vice President Dick Cheney is using Cayman Islands shell companies to help it and its workers escape US payroll taxes.

[…]

The principal losers in KBR’s tax dodge are US taxpayers. Even though KBR and the workers do not pay Medicare taxes, the employees still will be eligible for benefits eventually, hastening the predicted depletion of the Medicare fund. The workers themselves stand to lose out if they are laid off. Through its shell companies, KBR also avoids unemployment taxes in Texas, where it is registered, and its employees get no unemployment benefits.

[…]

The Pentagon has known of the KBR loophole, but has not complained about it, on the grounds that the savings are passed on to the military. This is a short-sighted view. The Pentagon should not be encouraging contractors to work tax angles that damage the fiscal well-being of the country, even if they provide short-term savings to the military.[/quote]

Executive summary: it pays to cheat.

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I for one, congratulate our Halliburton overlords.

4

It’s not Bush’s fault.
Despite Alert, Flawed Wiring Still Kills G.I.’s
12 US soldiers electrocuted so far.
It’s not Cheney’s fault. KBR isn’t even part of the company that he used to be CEO of anymore.
It’s not the Army’s fault. They told those guys not to take toasters into the shower.

It’s the fault of the oversight. Of which there is none. So it’s nobody’s fault.

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Further investigations.

[quote]Nigerian investigators say they have filed charges against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and others connected to the energy services company Halliburton, accusing them of paying bribes to secure a lucrative natural gas project in the 1990s.

Cheney and nine others are accused of charges that include “conspiracy and distribution of gratification to public officials,” Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the country’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said Wednesday.

The investigation is part of a long-running case involving Halliburton and a subsidiary firm, Kellogg, Brown and Root, over alleged bribes paid to Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion worth of contracts for a liquefied natural gas project in the Niger Delta. . .

After the country’s high court sets a trial date, authorities could pursue extradition.

The bribes allegedly amounted to $180 million between 1994 and 2004.

Kellogg, Brown and Root was one of four large international construction firms that built the natural gas plant.

The firm pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges in the United States last year and paid a $402 million criminal fine, the U.S. Justice Department said. KBR and Halliburton also paid another $177 million to settle civil complaints related to the bribery, the Justice Department said[/quote]

cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12 … ey/?hpt=T2

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lol Nigeria. That’s all I’m going to say.

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Nigeria has lost all credibility after they made scam e-mail an industry. Whatever they claim to be up to, it’s just another scam.

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I totally disagree. Sure they’ve got a reputation for fraud, but they’re also one of the most oil-rich nations on earth. Put one and one together and it adds up to massive fraud to obtain oil concessions. Throw Halliburton and KBR in the mix and it seems more likely than not that they participated in such illegal activities. . . again.

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I totally disagree. Sure they’ve got a reputation for fraud, but they’re also one of the most oil-rich nations on earth. Put one and one together and it adds up to massive fraud to obtain oil concessions. Throw Halliburton and KBR in the mix and it seems more likely than not that they participated in such illegal activities. . . again.[/quote]

Excuse my ignorance, are you telling me that KBR/Halliburton and Nigeria cooperated on something?
:roflmao:
I’d like to be on that payroll.

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Lies. I’ve done many dealings with Nigerian Princes and they are very nice people who do honor financial deals.