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Halliburton Employees Accept Multi-Million Kickbacks
Aired January 23, 2004 - 13:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: The company the Pentagon has relied on heavily to support the troops in reconstruction efforts in Iraq says some of its employees who have since been fired may have taken kickbacks from a Kuwaiti subcontractor.
CNN's Chris Huntington, live from New York now with the latest on the controversy clouding Halliburton -- Chris.
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, we had just about gotten to the point when folks were maybe ready to concede that the Halliburton story wasn't quite the scandal that it had been pumped up to be, until yesterday, when Halliburton admitted that two now former employees of its Kellogg, Brown and Root unit may have possibly accepted kickbacks as part a contract with a Kuwaiti subcontractor.
The -- No further details coming from the company nor the Pentagon about just what that contract was for or which company, which subcontractor was involved.
The company, thought, Halliburton, is saying that the value of the overcharge was $6 million, and that some of that may have been in the form of kickbacks to two employees of Kellogg, Brown and Root. A company spokesperson would only say that those two employees are no longer with the company. She didn't know, she said, whether they had actually been fired.
Now this morning, on the Senate floor, Tom Daschle called for hearings and a halt for any further contracts for Halliburton. Of course, the Halliburton scandal has been floating for quite some time and has been a favorite one of Democrats to bring up because it is so potent.
And now finally you have something here with some real facts involved and, indeed, a concession from the company that something may have gone wrong.
Halliburton is saying that it will repay the government for that $6 million overcharge. It has immediately given all it knows about the incident to the inspector general at the Pentagon.
And Halliburton, for its part, is trying to say, "Look, we got out ahead of this. We told the Pentagon investigators about it. We feel we've had full disclosure on this matter, at least as far as the Pentagon is concerned" -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So Chris, you're saying that kickback money will be given back? HUNTINGTON: Well, what Halliburton is saying is that they're acknowledging that there was a $6 million overcharge for this particular contract with a subcontractor.
Halliburton is saying absolutely that money will be refunded or recredited to the Defense Department. Halliburton right now not saying exactly the amount of the so-called alleged kickbacks.
Other sources in other news reports are saying that those -- that the full amount of the kickback was $6 million. Halliburton for now is absolutely denying that, saying no, the kickback, if they even existed, was not rising to the $6 million limit.
But basically, this is the -- the importance of this story now is that there is a, if you will, a firm hook for those to really grab on to, primarily Democrats who are really wanting to get more transparency about these huge contracts that Halliburton and its subsidiaries have been getting to do business in Iraq, now totaling to close to $6 billion in billing already for the work that's been done and two fresh new contracts awarded to Halliburton subsidiaries just in the last week.
PHILLIPS: Chris Huntington, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 23, 2004 - 13:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: The company the Pentagon has relied on heavily to support the troops in reconstruction efforts in Iraq says some of its employees who have since been fired may have taken kickbacks from a Kuwaiti subcontractor.
CNN's Chris Huntington, live from New York now with the latest on the controversy clouding Halliburton -- Chris.
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, we had just about gotten to the point when folks were maybe ready to concede that the Halliburton story wasn't quite the scandal that it had been pumped up to be, until yesterday, when Halliburton admitted that two now former employees of its Kellogg, Brown and Root unit may have possibly accepted kickbacks as part a contract with a Kuwaiti subcontractor.
The -- No further details coming from the company nor the Pentagon about just what that contract was for or which company, which subcontractor was involved.
The company, thought, Halliburton, is saying that the value of the overcharge was $6 million, and that some of that may have been in the form of kickbacks to two employees of Kellogg, Brown and Root. A company spokesperson would only say that those two employees are no longer with the company. She didn't know, she said, whether they had actually been fired.
Now this morning, on the Senate floor, Tom Daschle called for hearings and a halt for any further contracts for Halliburton. Of course, the Halliburton scandal has been floating for quite some time and has been a favorite one of Democrats to bring up because it is so potent.
And now finally you have something here with some real facts involved and, indeed, a concession from the company that something may have gone wrong.
Halliburton is saying that it will repay the government for that $6 million overcharge. It has immediately given all it knows about the incident to the inspector general at the Pentagon.
And Halliburton, for its part, is trying to say, "Look, we got out ahead of this. We told the Pentagon investigators about it. We feel we've had full disclosure on this matter, at least as far as the Pentagon is concerned" -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So Chris, you're saying that kickback money will be given back? HUNTINGTON: Well, what Halliburton is saying is that they're acknowledging that there was a $6 million overcharge for this particular contract with a subcontractor.
Halliburton is saying absolutely that money will be refunded or recredited to the Defense Department. Halliburton right now not saying exactly the amount of the so-called alleged kickbacks.
Other sources in other news reports are saying that those -- that the full amount of the kickback was $6 million. Halliburton for now is absolutely denying that, saying no, the kickback, if they even existed, was not rising to the $6 million limit.
But basically, this is the -- the importance of this story now is that there is a, if you will, a firm hook for those to really grab on to, primarily Democrats who are really wanting to get more transparency about these huge contracts that Halliburton and its subsidiaries have been getting to do business in Iraq, now totaling to close to $6 billion in billing already for the work that's been done and two fresh new contracts awarded to Halliburton subsidiaries just in the last week.
PHILLIPS: Chris Huntington, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
