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Justice officials from France and the United States are cooperating in a Halliburton
inquiry regarding an oil project in Nigeria.
According to a Monday report in the French daily Le Figaro, French Judge Renaud
Van Ruymbeke and other French officials had a lengthy meeting last week with
representatives of the U.S. Justice Department's anti-corruption department.
French and U.S. officials have been probing for some time allegations of millions
of dollars in kickbacks in a Nigerian oil project that involved Halliburton
and the French company Technip between 1995 and 2002.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was an executive of Halliburton during much
of that period.
Italian and Japanese interests are reportedly also involved in the case.
Le Figaro reported an unnamed U.S. source calling the Nigerian scheme probably
the most important corruption file known in Washington.
