MoneyWeb paraphrases from the venerable Financial Times. The meat:

At the heart of the case are allegations made to a French judge by a former executive of an international consortium known as TSKJ, which has for the past decade been building and expanding a giant natural gas liquefaction plant in southern Nigeria. The plant, one of Africa's biggest industrial projects and a natural gas supplier of global significance, is owned by the Nigerian government, Royal Dutch/Shell, Total of France and Eni of Italy.

According to the Financial Times, the former French executive said the consortium, which includes MW Kellogg, a British company 55% owned by KBR, [ Halliburton subsidiary, Kellog Brown & Root - MDT] had set up a slush fund to channel pay-offs to help it win a series of building contracts since the mid-1990s.

According to documents from the French investigation, the payments in question relate to four separate contracts under which the consortium agreed to pay a total of just over $170m to an offshore company controlled by a London-based lawyer called Jeffrey Tesler. He has declined comment, although his lawyer has in the past denied the payments constituted bribes.

Investigators in the US, France and Nigeria have looked with particular interest at handwritten meeting minutes surrendered by Halliburton, in which consortium partners use highly suggestive language about how they plan to do business.

More here. And Hallibirton is not the only one in hot water over their Nigerian dealings. Chevron is facing a $500 million fine.

-- MDT

Labels: bribery