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Financial Times: WHAT THE SFO IS INVESTIGATING

Published: August 8 2006 03:00 | Last updated: August 8 2006 03:00

*The bribery allegations centre on the construction of the Nigeria LNG natural gas liquefaction plant. The plant is 49 per cent owned by the Nigerian government, 25.6 per cent by Royal Dutch/Shell, 15 per cent by Total of France and 10.4 per cent by Italy’s Eni

*The SFO investigation comes after the launch of investigations by a French magistrate, the US Department of Justice and Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

*Investigators are looking into allegations that TSKJ, the plant’s main construction consortium for the past decade, agreed between 1994 and 2003 to pay more than $170m in bribes to win billions of dollars of building work.

*One of the consortium members is MW Kellogg, a British joint venture in which Halliburton’s KBR subsidiary has a 55 per cent stake. The other companies involved are JGC of Japan, Technip of France and Italy’s Snamprogetti

*The payments in question were made by the consortium to an offshore company controlled by Jeffrey Tesler, a London-

based lawyer, who has declined to comment. His lawyer has denied the money was used for bribes.

*The contracts are for services such as promoting the consor-

tium, advising on contractors and helping to maintain good relations with the client, government authorities and business representatives. They include a no-bribery clause

*Halliburton has severed ties with two former employees including Jack Stanley, a former KBR chairman, for allegedly receiving ‘improper personal benefit’

*Halliburton has said minutes of internal meetings show the consortium had ‘considered payments to Nigerian officials’

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006

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