The government of France, owing nothing to the United States after nearly a year of trashtalking from the Bush administration, is considering prosecuting American Vice President Dick Cheney over allegations of financial wrongdoing when he was the CEO of Halliburton.
What a tangled web we wove Mr. Cheney!
The case stems from a contract by a consortium including the American company Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), a Halliburton subsidiary, and a French company, Technip, to supply a gas complex to Nigeria, the newspaper reported.
A Paris investigating magistrate has been conducting investigations since October into allegations that US180 million was paid in secret commissions during the late 1990s up to 2002 from funds established by the consortium in Madeira, the report said.
Corruption and bribery is the normal way to do business in Nigeria - that goes equally for Cheney as for Shell Oil and ExxonMobil. But did Cheney make a mistake by stealing from a French company in Nigeria?
In a letter to the attorney-general's department, magistrate Reynaud van Ruymbeke ruled out directly prosecuting Cheney on a charge of bribing foreign officials, Le Figaro said.
But the official did not exclude the possibility of prosecution on the grounds of complicity in misuse of corporate assets, it added.
The loyal Republican fans out there continue to like Bush for his "good guy" appeal, but Cheney often smirks and looks downright evil - he has a very low "Q" rating. I doubt he would garner the support of the faithful if things start to look bleak for him.
Regardless of the strength of the case against Cheney, it does seem that this would get a lot of political mileage in France and Europe and all of those who have gotten the short end of stick from the US as of late (Russia).
Cheney's secret Energy Task Force papers case is still being debated in various courts and could eventually cause a lot of damage to Bush if eventually the public gets to read those documents.
In other words, France may be attempting to get the first "bite of the apple" when it comes to the raging fire over Cheney misdoings and misdeeds.
The original article in Le Figaro is ici.