Audit set of Halliburton no-bid Iraq deals

Washington has agreed to commission a special audit of sole-source Pentagon contracts granted to Halliburton Co. (HAL.N: Quote,Profile, Research) and paid for with Iraqi oil money, an international watchdog agency said on Thursday. The U.S. government agreed to order the audit after complaints from the International Advisory and Monitoring Board about contracts the Pentagon awarded to Halliburton during the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq that were paid for with Iraqi funds and given out without competitive bidding. The Texas oil services firm was once headed by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. The monitoring board, created by the U.N. Security Council to watch over U.S. stewardship of Iraq's natural resources during the occupation, also released an audit of Iraq's oil accounts during the final six months of the occupation. KPMG, which conducted the audit, expressed reservations about the occupation authorities' tracking of cash receipts and oil export sales. [more ]