Halliburton considered bribing Nigerian officials for contracts ten years ago.

An internal Halliburton Co. investigation has uncovered handwritten notes suggesting that former employees considered offering bribes to Nigerian officials a decade ago to secure work in a $5 billion project to build a natural gas liquefaction plant.

The notes appear to record conversations among the former employees and their partners in a consortium called TSKJ, formed in the early 1990s to pursue work on Nigeria's Bonny Island project, an official of the Houston energy services company said yesterday. That consortium includes a company that became part of Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Inc.

Wendy Hall, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said the notes show the consortium partners were discussing the possibility of bribes. But she said there's no evidence yet that any money exchanged hands.

Vice President Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive at the time of the merger. Hall said there is no indication Cheney was aware of the apparent bribery scheme. Hall said the internal investigation, which began in February, has included interviews with about 50 employees.

It happened under Dick's watch; if nothing else, it indicates how he liked the company to conduct its business. And this is just one smidgen we know about.