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Cheney Faces Criminal Indictments;Other Illegal Actions Raise Warning Flags at White House

by Spiro Agnew
Vice President Dick Cheney faces criminal indictments for illegal activities while CEO of energy giant Halliburton and also illegally intervened to secure a $7 billion no-bid contract for his former employer after his election to office, an analysis by the White House counsel’s office concludes.



Cheney Faces Criminal Indictments; Other Illegal
Actions Raise Warning Flags at White House

By TERESA HAMPTON

Jul 8, 2004, 04:59



Vice President Dick Cheney faces criminal indictments
for illegal activities while CEO of energy giant
Halliburton and also illegally intervened to secure a
$7 billion no-bid contract for his former employer
after his election to office, an analysis by the White
House counsel’s office concludes.

The Vice President is currently under investigation by
French authorities for bribery, money laundering and
misuse of corporate assets while at Halliburton and
also faces a U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
probe of a $180 million "slush fund" that may have
been used to pay bribes.

Although the White House Counsel analysis is not
available to the public because of the secrecy of
“attorney-client privilege,” it has generated
speculation among senior White House aides who suggest
the Vice President should step down as President
George W. Bush’s running mate for the November
Presidential elections. Such talk has increased in GOP
circles lately with former New York Senator Alfonse
D'Amato Wednesday calling on Bush to dump Cheney.


Vice President Cheney
Those who have read the analysis say it presents a
“devastating” case against the Vice President and
concludes Cheney has violated both the “spirit and
intent” of federal laws on conflict of interest.

Even worse, Cheney faces indictment by a French court
on charges of bribery, money laundering and misuse of
corporate assets because of fraud associated with the
construction of a $6 billion petrochemical plant built
by Halliburton in Nigeria in partnership with Technip,
one of France’s largest petrochemical engineering
companies.

Cheney is under investigation by Judge Renaud van
Ruymbeke, one of France’s famous investigating
magistrates. Ruymbeke is a legend in legal circles
because of his investigation into French campaign
scandals in the 1990s, resulting in multiple
indictments and convictions of top officials.

Because of Ruymbeke’s work on the case, the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an
investigation into a $180 million “slush fund” that
the French judge says was used to pay bribes.

London Lawyer Jeffrey Tesler, a consultant to
Halliburton, admitted under oath in May that he made
payments from the fund to Albert “Jack” Stanley,
president of Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown &
Root and a longtime friend and associate of Cheney.
The payments, Tesler said, were personally approved by
Cheney, who headed Halliburton at the time.

Although Cheney left his position at Halliburton
before becoming Vice President, his financial
disclosure statements show he continues to receive
dividends from stock as well as deferred compensation
from the company.

At least $5 million in payments to Stanley from the
fund were wired to a secret numbered bank account in
Zurich which Judge Ruymbeke discovered belonged to the
KBR President. Tesler also testified he paid another
$350,000 to another KBR executive, William Chaudran,
through another secret bank account on the isle of
Jersey.

Cheney served as CEO of Halliburton from 1995 until
2000 and approved the Nigerian contract in 1999.
Halliburton publicly announced on June 18 it was
“severing all ties” with Stanley, admitting he had
received “improper personal benefits” while serving as
President of KBR. Sources within Halliburton say the
company’s internal investigation clearly implicates
Vice President Cheney but acknowledge the
investigation will remain sealed in light of the
company’s $7 billion sweetheart contract with the
Pentagon for work in Iraq.

French Judge Ruymbeke, however, is said to be offering
Stanley a deal if he implicates Cheney and sources
within the French legal system say the judge has more
than enough to indict the Vice President on charges of
bribery, money laundering and misuse of corporate
assets.

The assessment of the White House counsel’s office
agrees that Cheney faces “serious legal implications”
from the pending French indictments and add that the
Vice President’s illegal and unethical lobbying on
behalf of Halliburton for the no-bid contract “raises
additional questions.”

Cheney, however, is standing firm and recently told
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont to “fuck off” when
the Senator questioned him on the Halliburton matters.

According to White House sources, President George W.
Bush laughed the matter off at a recent cabinet
meeting.

“Fuck ‘em all,” Bush said.

The President’s bravado, however, is not shared by
worried White House aides. Some point to the last vice
president to step down because of fraud and corruption
– Spiro T. Agnew, who served under President Richard
M. Nixon, another Republican forced to leave office
because of scandal.

http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/721380.htm



mparent7777.blog-city.com/

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