yeesh

Can you believe it? Sue Pleming pens Halliburton Gets More Business in Iraq for Reuters.

The U.S. military said on Monday Vice President Dick Cheney's former company Halliburton was allocated $222 million more last week for work in Iraq, at the same time as a Pentagon audit found the firm may have overbilled for some services there.

Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root has now clocked up $2.26 billion under its March no-bid contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild Iraq's oil sector.

More Halliburton details in the Dow Jones newswire U.S. May Have Steered Halliburton to Kuwaiti Supplier

U.S. and Kuwaiti government officials may have tried to steer Halliburton Co. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to continue working with a Kuwaiti subcontractor that Pentagon officials point to as the source of potential overcharging in Iraq, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported, citing documents and a person familiar with the situation.

[...]

Auditors found that the cost of gasoline purchased by KBR from a subcontractor in Kuwait was almost twice as expensive as gasoline KBR purchased from a Turkish subcontractor. Corps of Engineers officials said KBR was ordered to move gasoline both from the north and south into Iraq to ensure security of supply. Halliburton officials said the Corps of Engineers ordered purchases from Kuwait. Pentagon officials said they don't believe KBR pocketed the money, but faulted the company for apparently not finding a subcontractor that could deliver gasoline at better prices.

But Corps of Engineers documents, copies of which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, indicate KBR attempted to negotiate lower rates from their Kuwaiti subcontractor -- Altanmia Commercial Marketing Co. -- earlier this month, and also tried to line up alternate contractors inside Kuwait as early as October.

If anyone is curious, you can purchase a credit report for Altanmia Commercial Marketing Co. WLL at the website of International Company Profile. See http://www.icpcredit.com/ReportRequest.asp?sCompanyID=147880