SFO mulls charges in KBR JV probe

By Braden Reddall

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Serious Fraud Office is considering civil claims or criminal prosecution in its probe into a Nigerian bribe scheme in which former Halliburton (HAL.N) unit KBR (KBR.N) has already pleaded guilty, Halliburton said on Friday.

The SFO has been investigating a UK-based KBR joint venture that held a stake in KBR's multinational consortium which was involved in the bribery scheme.

Houston-based engineering firm KBR pleaded guilty in February to U.S. charges that it paid $180 million (110 million pounds) in bribes between 1994 and 2004 to Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion in contracts.

KBR admitted to paying the bribes for the TSKJ consortium -- France's Technip (TECF.PA), Italy's Snamprogetti (SPMI.MI), KBR and Japan's JGC Corp (1963.T) -- to secure contracts for the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas terminal.

A quarterly filing with financial regulators from Halliburton on Friday said the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is considering making claims "under various United Kingdom laws" in its investigation of M.W. Kellogg -- a UK joint venture 55 percent owned by KBR that held part of its TSKJ share.

Halliburton, which indemnified KBR for some past liabilities when the companies split in 2007, said SFO findings of UK law violations could result in "fines, restitution and confiscation of revenues, among other penalties, some of which could be subject to our indemnification obligations."

The SFO investigation is three years old, but Halliburton did not mention possible UK charges or fines in past filings.

A spokeswoman for Halliburton declined to comment further.