Nigeria Asks Interpol to Arrest Dick Cheney for Halliburton Bribes

Nigeria alleges that Dick Cheney was involved with bribery while the head of the company Halliburton. Halliburton's unit KPR allegedly made bribery payments to Nigerian officials. Some employees have already been arrested in Nigeria due to alleged participation in the $180 million contract bribery scandal over a natural gas project. Nigeria will use Interpol to issue an upcoming arrest warrant for Dick Cheney, notes Business Week.

TIME reports that the charges against Halliburton have already been through the American courts. Halliburton did admit to misdeeds. The company paid almost $600 million in civil penalty fees. A key question is whether Halliburton officials were aware that employees were allegedly making bribes to score contracts in Nigeria.

The charges against Cheney and the company will be reviewed at court in Nigeria in the next three days, according to Godwin Obla, prosecuting counsel at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria.

Halliburton Says Claims are Invalid

Halliburton denies the claims made by Nigeria. The company denies any culpability in this matter of alleged bribery. Halliburton issued the following statement on this issue:

"Nigerian authorities entered the offices of Halliburton in Lagos, ransacked the property, assaulted personnel and took a number of non-managerial employees into custody...this action had no legal basis, " reports Reuters.

Does Halliburton Have a Bad Reputation?

Are the claims against Halliburton bogus or valid? It is difficult to judge that now. However, it is commonly viewed as a company with dubious practices which some compare to war profiteering. The timing of the claims against Halliburton may be suspicious, though. Elections are upcoming in Nigeria. Politicians sometimes use the strategy of going on the attack on an issue or against a person or company to coo favor from voters. This could be what is happening in Nigeria.

Dick Cheney: Forever Controversial

Cheney is 69 now. He has often been in the hospital due to heart attacks and other health problems. He remains a very controversial person in America due to the initiation of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars during the time he was vice president. Some people believe that Cheney was involved in war crimes while vice president of the United States.

Nigeria: Oil Supplier to USA

Nigeria is the fifth-largest supplier of oil to America. And oil is also an issue that was controversial while Cheney was in office. Halliburton seems to be involved in too many incidents involving oil and bad business practices; the company was also part of the BP oil spill disaster in New Orleans.

The next few days will be full of news about Cheney and Halliburton. Will Interpol actually extend an arrest warrant to Cheney? If so, the world will start to watch this situation much more closely.

Sources:

Business Week

Reuters

TIME