HALLIBURTON COMPANY
ETHICAL CODE OF CONDUCT
The Code of Business Conduct serves as the primary means by which organization communicates its commitment to the ethical and legal conduct of its employees as well as to various stakeholders. The Code of Business Conduct is intended to provide an effective and comprehensive guidepost regarding the Company's expectation for ethical behaviour. The effective date of the Code of Business Conduct is August 2013, the date of distribution of the Code to all employees.
RANKING
Halliburton managed to crack the Fortune 100.According to Fortune 500, Halliburton rank is 96. However, previous year it was ranked 103. It appears the energy industry's oil woes just took a little bit longer to catch up to Halliburton,
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Fact number one: Halliburton has acknowledged that it, ‘‘accepted up to $6 million in kickbacks in its contract work in Iraq.’’
Fact number two: Halliburton is now being investigated by the Pentagon for overcharging the American government for its work in Iraq.
Fact No. 3, Halliburton faces criminal charges in a $180 million international bribery scandal during the time that Cheney was the CEO of the company.
Fact No. 4, Halliburton has been repeatedly warned by the Pentagon that the food it was serving 110,000 U.S. troops in Iraq was dirty, and a Pentagon audit found blood all over the floor of the kitchens Halliburton supplies over in Iraq.
Fact No. 5, Halliburton is getting around an American law that forbids doing business with rogue nations. Thanks to a giant loophole, Halliburton is able to do business with Iran, of all nations, through a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands.
Granted, these allegations and accusations are just the tip of the iceberg regarding Halliburton’s unethical business behavior and dealings with the United States
/, Rick Wiles. "Bush's Former Oil Company Linked To Bin Laden Family." Jeff Rense Program. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. .
that the CIA were the masterminds behind the whole deal. They had the motive and power to do
The Iraqi shooting by Blackwater guards was not only extremely unethical. This decision impacted public impressions of all private security companies operating overseas. The Blackwater guards felt untouchable because they had the backing of the State Department, which included almost no rules. “Many U.S. and Iraqi officials and industry representatives said they came to see Blackwater as untouchable, ...
Enron’s management style was apparent from the early years of the organization. In 1987, traders in New York manipulated transactions so it would appear as though volume was higher. Falsified transactions significantly increased the traders’ bonus pay out. A truly virtuous manager would deal with unethical behavior by swiftly dismissing those involved. Sadly, Chairman Kenneth Lay and his management team chose to keep the traders on payroll because “said the company needed the revenue” (Fowler, 2002). This event may have been the earliest indication of unethical behavior within the organization.
... bribing our enemies. “Investigative journalist Jerome Corsi has obtained a copy of the document held by the Egyptian military, proving the Obama regime sent millions of dollars in bribes to the Muslim Brotherhood.” (
There are so many things you could or be tempted to do with $39 million dollars!!! Reading the fine print when signing a contract is very important to a person and the company itself, not doing so could affect the outcome of the service provided. Also there could be other stipulations and/or very important details that you could omit. As a Senior Official, you are expected to abide by the company’s rule and take the time and preparation to present properly redacted contracts. And if you are a contracting officer you should never sign any documentation before reading it to its entirety to include the fine print. This paper will explain how an official of the State Department manipulated and persuaded a contracting officer into signing a $39 million dollars contract, without
According to Charles Mahoney, the US military depended upon contractors to support counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the tasks the military contractors conduct include drone missions to collect signals intelligence and assist foreign countries like Iraq and Afghanistan forces to fight insurgencies. There have been notable occurences of use of excessive force in violation of human right by companies such as CACI at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq and Blackwater at Nisour Square. Iraq has made reference to the lack of monitoring the private military defenses on their grounds. “If the US government is going to work extensively with contractors, it requires a more robust oversight system, government agencies and courts also need assurances they can hold defense firms accountable if they break the law overseas”
"How the Bush Administration Sold the Iraq War." Msnbc.com. NBC News Digital, 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
The cons to the argument for saying the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is obsolete is discussed in the article With Wal-Mart Claims, Greater Attention on a Law by Charlie Savage. In this article Charlie Savage argues that the FCPA has always been a useful tool in stopping corruption but in recent years with companies becoming more globalized other countries gradually adopted similar laws, the United States has started to enforce it more strictly. The dollar amount of fines imposed by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission has increased even more, including a record-setting $800 million paid by Siemens in 2008. Enforcement under the act has soared, from just two enforcement actions in 2004 to 48 in 2010. There are currently at least 100 open investigations, specialists estimate.
On September 16th of 2007, shortly after noon, in a place called Nisour Square located in the Mansour District in the Iraq capital of Baghdad, a heavily armed Blackwater Personnel Security Detail convoy consisting of four armored vehicles mounted with 7.62-millimeter machine guns made its way through the square as Iraqi traffic officers tried to control the busy traffic (Zagorin, Bennet, 2007) . Between the convoy getting special traffic rules to prevent attacks and the square being a heavy traffic area something went wrong and Blackwater personnel from all four vehicles opened fire on numerous civilian vehicles. “When it was all over we were looking around and about fifteen cars had been destroyed, the bodies of the killed were strewn on the pavements and road.” Thiab one of the traffic officers recalled (Schahill, 2008).When the convoy cleared the area the “shootout” left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and 20 injured. These actions lead to an outrage not only in the Iraq but also the Arab community. While this wasn’t Blackwater’s first time making global headlines, this time was definitely the worst to date. It came to look so bad on the United States government that it was taken to trial in American court, and on January 1st of 2010 all charges were dismissed, both against those contractors involved in this terrible incident but also to company itself.
The offer of PMCs is irresistible that U.S. government could save time and money from producing skilled military personnel by simply hiring professionals in the market. The film has spotlighted how U.S. government’s investment on PMCs turn into irony in terms of accountability. Greenwald made the case by informing the evidence of unskilled interpreters of Titan Corporation jeopardizing the military missions; and Halliburton proving unclean water for the U.S. soldiers. The most significant indication is the outbreak of Abu Ghraib prison scandal, which demolishes the image of U.S in the international community. In addition, the Pentagon had found evidence that Halliburton overcharged 1 billion dollars to the taxpayers. The question is how responsible PMCs are in handling such crisis? Don Mayer stated that employees of PMCs are not under direct supervision of U.S. military, and the crime that employees commit is a matter of his or her employer (5). And, Mayer also pointed out that there is no clear jurisdiction in U.S. court, Iraq court, and International tribunal to serve justice for the victims (5). The United States government could have a higher level of transparency and accountability with its own traditional military because the military is subject to U.S. government and international law. Indeed, accountability is the U.S. opportunity
Bribes are not legal fees. Potential bribes were not disclosed in the books as well. This violation not only involves the accountants of Wal-Mart de Mexico, but the CEO, CFO, and auditors that were supposed to make sure records are transparent, accurate, and reliable. Sarbanes Oxley also requires CEO’s and CFO’s to certify that the financial reports are correct. The United States Department of Justice encourages companies to conduct internal investigations and to disclose the relevant facts to the authorities. Any suspicion that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is being violated should be reported to the US DOJ, which it was not reported by Wal-Mart. According to The New York Times, Wal-Mart did approach the Justice Department, but after learning about the Times’
To provide an example of a breach of ethical conduct in the workplace, we may remember the case of a financial manager in a corporation that decided not to pay overtime to some employees. After a deep outside investigation, the company was summoned with thousands of dollars to remedy the payment that was supposed to be paid to all employees who worked more than forty hours per week. Again, it is needed more than just a booklet stating that the company adheres to the code of business ethics. It is needed serious managers that can run the company with the most seriousness as possible. Consequently, any written codes of business ethics, regardless of how well it has been crafted, need people that adhere to its internal content with a serious desire to do the right thing.
Leighton Holdings is charged not publicly releasing information on bribes which was paid by former executives to secure the contracts in Iraq but Leighton Holdings think it was insufficiently definite to be disclosed and in its defence filed by Melbourne City Investments in Victoria’s Supreme Court, Leighton Holdings claimed that the information was not expected to have effect on price or value. Melbourne City Investments (MCI) alleges Leighton breached disclosure laws and they did not provide any information about Unaoil bribe before October 03, 2013 and then again in October 3, 2013, Fairfax Media revealed that the former CEO Wal King was well known about bribery but he denied about that. Leighton Holdings was Australia’s 38th largest company but after all these, stock fell by 10%, then a further 4% and had a direct impact. Many Australian companies do not pay attention to bribery and corruption risks but after the case of Leighton Holdings bribery, everyone is aware.
Lyke, B and Jickling, M. (2002). WorldCom: The Accounting Scandal. CRS Report for Congress, p2.