KBR officially charged in Nigeria bribery case

BEIJING, Feb. 8 -- The US government has formally charged engineering

company KBR Inc in a US$180 million, decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian

officials to secure US$6 billion in contracts.

KBR Inc was charged on Friday with five counts, including conspiracy to

violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

But former KBR parent Halliburton Co said last month it would pay US$559

million to end the investigation if the government approved the settlement,

which was the largest penalty against a US company for bribery charges under

federal law.

The bribes were paid between 1994 and 2004 to secure four contracts for a

KBR joint venture to build and expand Nigeria's Bonny Island liquefied natural

gas terminal, according to the government.

A truly multinational scheme, it involved partner companies from Italy,

France and Japan, and huge sums of money wired through banks in Amsterdam and

New York to accounts in Monaco and Switzerland.

KBR also used shell companies in Portugal, referred to by the government as

Madeira Companies 1, 2 and 3, in an effort to avoid breaking the FCPA law, the

government said.

"KBR avoided placing US citizens on the board of managers of Madeira

Company 3 as a further part of KBR's intentional effort to insulate itself from

FCPA liability," according to prosecutors' filing with the US District Court in

Texas.

Albert "Jack" Stanley, a former KBR chief executive, pleaded guilty last

September to charges stemming from the Nigeria bribes and agreed to cooperate

with investigators.

(Source: Shanghai Daily/ Agencies)