A US grand jury issued a subpoena to Halliburton seeking information about its Cayman Islands unit's work in Iran, where it is illegal for US companies to operate, Halliburton said last night.
The oilfield services company, formerly headed by US Vice President Dick Cheney, also said a subpoena was issued to a former employee as part of a separate investigation into whether it overcharged for fuel under its contracts in Iraq. The company did not name the employee.
Halliburton said the investigation of its subsidiary's work in Iran had been transferred to the US Department of Justice from the Treasury Department, which first began an inquiry in 2001.
"In July 2004, Halliburton received from an Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas a grand jury subpoena requesting the production of documents. We intend to cooperate with the government's investigation," Halliburton said in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
"We have a Cayman Islands subsidiary with operations in Iran, and other European subsidiaries that manufacture goods destined for Iran and/or render services in Iran," Halliburton vice president Ms Margaret Carriere acknowledged in the filing.
She said the company received this month a grand jury subpoena requesting documents related to the operations, the nature of which remains undisclosed.
Halliburton said it had previously replied to requests for information from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2001 and again in January 2004.
The US Attorney's office in Houston declined to comment.
Halliburton's engineering and construction unit KBR, formerly called Kellogg Brown & Root, is the subject of US Justice Department and SEC investigations for possible overcharges of fuel supplies and food services in Iraq, where it is the largest contractor, holding contracts that could eventually be worth $18 billion.
Halliburton said it would comply with the subpoena on the Iranian operations, and reiterated it believed its links to Iran through the Cayman Islands unit were in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
"It is important to understand, especially in the current political environment, that this is not a condemnation of the company, but a method of further studying the facts. We welcome a thorough review of any and all of the company's business," a Halliburton spokeswoman said.
In a report issued in October 2003 in response to shareholder complaints about its Iranian links, Halliburton said that it was not illegal for US companies' independent foreign subsidiaries to conduct business in Iran, and that it had taken steps to isolate its US operations and managers from its work there.