Cheney Firm to Pay Up in Bribe Case

Halliburton, the shadowy oil field company once run by Dick Cheney, said Tuesday that the company had agreed to pay $35 million to the Nigerian government to settle a bribery case—and the country will drop the criminal and civil charges against the former VP in return. Nigeria had accused Halliburton subsidiary KBR of bribery in relation to the construction and expansion of a natural-gas facility. Cheney himself had been charged over the bribes, with the government saying he had been culpable since he was at the helm of the company at the time. Halliburton and KBR paid $579 million to the U.S. government last year to settle similar allegations related to bribery in Nigeria, and the U.S. government agreed not to prosecute.