Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Not yet the Ball-and-Chainster

When I first heard the news about Nigeria issuing an arrest warrant for Dick Cheney, I had a moment of hope, but then I thought about one second later, eh, just an Internets rumor. I mean, c'mon. Nigeria? That place that keeps sending us emails and so forth?

But I keep seeing mentions of this story, which makes me think … It Would Be Irresponsible NOT To Speculate, as they (used to!) like to say.

Cheney is off to the left, in the shadows(note shadowy figure off to the left)

And now there's this, from Raw Story, via StrangeAppar8us/Rumproast:

Halliburton reportedly agrees to pay Nigeria $250 million to drop bribery charges against Cheney, firm

The massive industrial conglomerate Halliburton has reportedly offered to pay $250 million to settle charges against its former chief executive, ex-Vice President Dick Cheney, in a multi-million dollar bribery case.

Nigeria filed charges against Cheney last week in an investigation of alleged bribery estimated at $180 million. Prosecutors named both Halliburton and KBR in the charges, as well as three European oil and engineering companies -- Technip SA, EniSpa, and Saipem Construction. Eleven Halliburton officials were arrested last month and freed on bail Nov. 29.

The charges allege that engineering contractor KBR, until 2007 a subsidiary of Halliburton, was among companies that paid bribes to secure a $6 billion contract for a natural gas plant. KBR pleaded guilty to the same bribes in a US court in 2009, and agreed to pay a $382 million fine. The Nigerian charges appear to stem from the US case -- though, in that trial, Cheney was never directly charged.

The $250 million figure would include a direct $130 million fine by the company and an agreement to repatriate another $120 million from Switzerland.

Representatives for Cheney and Halliburton met with Nigerian officials in London over the weekend.

[...]

I'm guessing Bigus Dickus approved of this and growled, "Just a cost of doing business."

And then shot a friend in the face, just to hear him apologize.

(x-posted)

[Added] The Wall Street Journal of all places is reporting the same story.

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