Cheney denies role in Halliburton deal

Cheney denies role in Halliburton deal
September 14 2003 at 06:30PM
Independent On Line


Washington - United States Vice-President Dick Cheney said on Sunday that he played no role in awarding lucrative contracts for reconstruction in Iraq to his former firm, Halliburton, and that allegations he was involved were "political cheap shots."

"Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice-president I severed all my ties with the company, got rid of all my financial interest," Cheney said in an interview with NBC television's Meet the Press.

"I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now for over three years," he said.

"And as vice-president I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way shape or form of contracts led by the (US Army) Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the federal government," he added.

Among the contracts awarded to Halliburton is one from the US Army Corps of Engineers worth nearly $950-million (about R7-billion) to rehabilitate Iraq's oil fields.

The deal has come in for criticism from some members of the US Congress because it was awarded without competitive bidding.

Cheney noted that Halliburton had "traditionally done a lot of work with the US government" and said he had nothing to do with the awarding of the contracts to the company he headed for five years before becoming vice-president.

"Nobody has produced one single shred of evidence that there's anything wrong or inappropriate here, it's nothing but innuendo, and basically political cheap shots," Cheney said. - Sapa-AFP