Corruption stench as company loses Iraq contract

[Tellurian]

..The sky is falling in on Halliburton. read on..

One of Australia's largest postwar contracts in Iraq has collapsed, with the partners embroiled in a multi-million-dollar legal battle and allegations of corruption in the awarding of contracts by a leading Pentagon supplier.

Morris Corporation, a Queensland catering company that has delivered meals to the armed forces in hot-spots from Somalia to Cambodia, was dumped last year by the giant US military contractor Halliburton, losing a $100 million contract to supply meals to US troops in Iraq.

...snip...

The contract was to feed 18,000 troops at three camp sites in northern Iraq. But the US company quietly canceled the deal six weeks later, saying that Morris and its Kuwaiti partner had not met their obligations.


Now an insider involved in the deal alleges that the Australian-Kuwaiti joint venture was approached by a Halliburton employee seeking kickbacks worth up to $3 million during the contract negotiations. "We're not talking about a paper bag. This guy was after a percentage of your sales every month."

...Right Wing extortion extravaganza!

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/20/1085028468241.html?from=storylhs

[Coventina]

1. We'll see if this goes anywhere

knowing this gang of thieves, it's probably dead in the water.

[indepat]

5. Let's none of us hold our breaths since tens of billions of dollars

appropriated for Iraq are not accountable to anyone: Bushco has a free hand to use the money as they like.

[struggle4progress]

8. And the Republicans refused to criminalize war-profiteering. eom

[Tellurian]

2. The dispute is already in litigation..

The new allegations that a bribe was sought by a Halliburton employee for the contract will raise serious concerns in Congress and the Pentagon, where Halliburton is already under investigation over kickbacks in a contract to supply fuel to the US military.

Pentagon auditors are scrutinising all of Halliburton's meal contracts after they foundmassive overbilling by the company but until now there have been no allegations of corruption in the catering contracts.

The insider who spoke to the Herald said that the Halliburton employee wanted a percentage of the catering contract in exchange for securing the contract for the joint venture. "They wanted kickbacks of 3 per cent to 4 per cent, which pushed up the prices because then the sub-contractors would add the price of the kickbacks to their costs."

The kickbacks were supposed to be paid to a "consultant" who would act as a cut-out between the Halliburton employee and the payments. The proposed arrangement would have cost the joint venture more than $3 million in kickbacks.

There is no evidence that any money was paid over for the kickbacks by either KCPC or Morris Corporation.

Confidential Halliburton documents given to the Herald show that the US Halliburton employee who allegedly approached the joint venture was involved in awarding millions of dollars worth of Halliburton work in Kuwait to supply the US military with services. The Herald was unable to contact the employee.

[izzie]

3. This mess in Iraq will make the S and L look like pin money.

You could taking bets on it.

[UpInArms]

4. hope they put their "video" on cd

so that the Senate can watch it in a dark room and decide that "for the good of the country" no one else needs to know. /sarcasm

[David Zephyr]

6. But Will the U.S. Media Mention This?

Doubt it.

[daleo]

7. Refresh my memory - does Cheney still get money from Halliburton?

I thought he did, through a blind trust or something. These are probably not connected, but it just goes to show what a corrupt to-the-core process this entire Iraq fiasco has been.

[crossroads]

10. Yes he still gets money from Halliburton.

Not sure of the amount, but it is substantial. I read about this recently, but have no link.
:kick:

[crossroads]

9. The greed over who supplys 'meals' makes me lose my appetite!

How low can these people go? I hope this gets on the front page of every paper in the US!
:puke: