Senators Question Halliburton Executive About Dealings in Iran [View All]

[maddezmom]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON, April 30 — A Halliburton executive, facing withering criticism from Democratic lawmakers during a Senate hearing on Monday about the company’s business dealings in Iran, insisted that the firm had not broken any laws.

The official, Sherry Williams, a Halliburton vice president and corporate secretary, said the company had consulted several law firms in 1995 after sanctions were imposed on Iran. Officials of the company, which recently announced it was moving its chief executive from Houston to Dubai and establishing a corporate headquarters there, determined that it was legal for independent foreign subsidiaries of United States companies to do business there, she said.

“We have followed U.S. law,” she said. “We will continue to follow U.S. law.”

Although the three Democratic senators on hand repeatedly suggested broader concerns than strict legality should have prompted the company to halt its business in Iran, Ms. Williams expressed no regret for the firm’s work there.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/washington/01halliburton.html?_r=1&ref=washington&oref=slogin

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Halliburton defends its dealings
Subsidiary's work in Iran was not against law, executive contends


By DAVID IVANOVICH
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — A Halliburton Co. executive Monday defended the legality of the oil-field-services giant's past business dealings in Iran, dismissing suggestions a foreign subsidiary working there wasn't truly independent of the parent.

Sherry Williams, Halliburton's vice president and corporate secretary, told a Senate panel the company sought advice from three outside law firms as well as federal regulators about the work a foreign subsidiary might perform in Iran in the wake of a 1995 executive order barring U.S. companies from trading with Tehran.

Halliburton did business for years with Iran through a Cayman Islands-registered company called Halliburton Products & Services Ltd., based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Under current law, U.S. citizens and operations cannot do business directly with Iran. But foreign subsidiaries are permitted to do work there as long as the subsidiary acts independently of the parent company.

more:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/4763381.html