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Monday, March 12, 2007

Take the money and run
Posted by Jill | 6:37 AM
...to Dubai.

Halliburton, the company that's been stuffing its pockets with Americans' tax dollars for the last four years, stuffed over $200,000 in deferred compensation into Dick Cheney's pockets in 2005, provided polluted water to American soldiers in Iraq and had its contract yanked in spring of 2006 because of its poor performance, and was violating sanctions in doing business with Iran at the same time as the Bush Administration is gearing up to attack, is getting outta Dodge and moving its headquarters to the country the Bush Administration wanted to have run American ports -- Dubai:

“Halliburton is opening its corporate headquarters in Dubai while maintaining a corporate office in Houston,” spokeswoman Cathy Mann said in an e-mail to the Associated Press. “The chairman, president and [chief executive officer] will office from and be based in Dubai to run the company from the [United Arab Emirates].”

Speaking at an energy conference in nearby Bahrain, Lesar said he would relocate to Dubai from Texas to oversee Halliburton’s intensified focus on business in the Mideast and energy-hungry Asia, home to some of the world’s most important oil and gas markets.

“As the [chief executive officer], I’m responsible for the global business of Halliburton in both hemispheres, and I will continue to spend quite a bit of time in an airplane as I remain attentive to our customers, shareholders and employees around the world,” Lesar said. “Yes, I will spend the majority of my time in Dubai.”

“The eastern hemisphere is a market that is more heavily weighted toward oil exploration and production opportunities, and growing our business here will bring more balance to Halliburton’s overall portfolio,” Lesar said.


Karen Tumulty wonders if this move is more about subpoenas than about the business itself:

Is this about tax breaks? Getting beyond the reach of congressional subpoenas? And what about all that sensitive information that Halliburton has had access to? At a minimum, reincorporating in Dubai would mean that Halliburton will be paying less taxes to the U.S. Treasury, even as it collects billions from government contracts.


Can you imagine the outcry if a company once headed by, say, Al Gore, from which he were still receiving deferred compensation, were relocating to an Arab country, paying less taxes as a result, and still going to receive lucrative government no-bid contracts?

I guess that termination of contracts with Iran was just for show -- and temporary.

Cernig has more.

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