US govt formally charges KBR in Nigeria bribe case/Houston lawsuit blames Halliburton, KBR in Iraq death

US govt formally charges KBR in Nigeria bribe case 

Sat Feb 7, 2009 12:15am GMT

 

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday formally charged engineering company KBR Inc (KBR.N) in a $180 million, decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion in contracts.

But former KBR parent Halliburton Co (HAL.N) said last month it would pay $559 million to end the investigation if the government approved the settlement, which was the largest penalty against a U.S. company for bribery charges under federal law.

The bribes were paid between 1994 and 2004 to secure four contracts for a KBR joint venture to build and expand Nigeria's Bonny Island liquefied natural gas terminal, according to the government.

KBR Inc was charged with five counts, including conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

A truly multinational scheme, it involved partner companies from Italy, France and Japan, and huge sums of money wired through banks in Amsterdam and New York to accounts in Monaco and Switzerland.

KBR also used shell companies in Portugal, referred to by the government as Madeira Companies 1, 2 and 3, in an effort to avoid breaking the FCPA law, the government said.

"KBR avoided placing U.S. citizens on the board of managers of Madeira Company 3 as a further part of KBR's intentional effort to insulate itself from FCPA liability," according to the government prosecutors' filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The TSKJ consortium that built the LNG facility included KBR, France's Technip SA (TECF.PA), Italy's Snamprogetti (ENI.MI) and Japan's JGC Corp (1963.T).

Albert "Jack" Stanley, a former KBR chief executive, pleaded guilty last September to charges stemming from the Nigeria bribes and agreed to cooperate with investigators.

KBR declined to make any further comment late on Friday. (Reporting by Braden Reddall; Editing by Bernard Orr)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.

 

 

http://www.chron.com/ Houston lawsuit blames Halliburton, KBR in Iraq death  KBR denies responsibility in trucker's 2007 death at Camp Anaconda By MARY FLOOD Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle Feb. 6, 2009, 7:12PM A Michigan woman whose father was shot to death by American soldiers while driving a truck in Iraq filed a lawsuit in Houston this week against his employers, Halliburton and KBR. Kristen Martin alleges wrongful death, fraud and conspiracy regarding the February 2007 shooting of her father, Donald Tolfree. Guy Watts, the Austin lawyer who filed the lawsuit, said Tolfree was assured he would be protected by the U.S. military 24 hours a day. Instead, because of gross negligence and fraud on the part of his employer, he was killed by the U.S. military, Watts contends. The lawsuit states that the family in no way blames the military but does blame the practices of Halliburton, KBR and their affiliate Services Employees International for mistakes that led soldiers to think Tolfree might be an insurgent driving a bomb-filled truck onto a military base. He said Tolfree’s daughter has been negotiating with the companies since her father’s death. There is some question about whether the companies told the daughter incorrectly that her father had been killed by a roadside bomb. Watts said it is clear the companies falsely wrote that Tolfree was killed by a roadside bomb in a letter to her U.S. senator 11 months after the death. Tolfree, who was in his 50s, was killed when about 100 rounds from a U.S. machine gun were fired into the cab of his truck, according to the lawsuit. Another truck also was fired upon, but the driver survived. Several other lawsuits are pending in Houston federal courts against Halliburton and KBR concerning deaths in Iraq. Many have taken years to get to trial. Watts said he expects the companies will claim they are not subject to lawsuits over deaths in Iraq under a law called the Defense Base Act. Heather Browne, spokeswoman for KBR, said the company has sympathy for Tolfree’s family but denies that it is liable or responsible for his death. Halliburton spokeswoman Diana Gabriel said the company has not been served with the lawsuit and that, if it is related to KBR work in Iraq, Halliburton would be improperly named in this matter. mary.flood@chron.com chron.com Copyright © 2008 The Houston Chronicle

 

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"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs