WASHINGTON, 13 December 2003 — The US Defense Department said Thursday that a subsidiary of the Halliburton energy giant, formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney, overcharged for gasoline sold to the US military in Iraq.
Other violations of Iraq contracts were also found in the Pentagon’s audit, officials said. Contracts awarded to Halliburton have caused a prolonged controversy.
Pentagon officials said an audit of the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root found prices were inflated by up to $61 million. President George W. Bush said yesterday that Halliburton will have to reimburse the $61 million it had overcharged.
“The audit found some overpricing on a few different occasions. It’s not just a one-time finding,” a Pentagon source said. “It’s not just the oil that has been overpriced.”
In November, two contracts were given to the Halliburton subsidiary, the Pentagon source said: One of $7 billion to restore Iraqi oil, and the other to provide logistical support to US troops in the Middle East and Central Asia, worth $8.6 billion.