Bush Confident
in Wake of Cheney Accounting Scandal Investigation
 |
|
Both
Bush and Cheney’s business practices have come under scrutiny
|
WASHINGTON,
July 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. President George W.
Bush on Wednesday, July 17, said he had “great confidence” in his
vice president, Dick Cheney, whose direction of the Dallas-based oil
company Halliburton is the subject of a lawsuit over accounting
improprieties while he was chief executive.
“I
have great confidence in the vice president, he is doing a heck of a
job,” Bush said at a White House appearance with his Polish
counterpart Aleksander Kwasniewski, defending his vice president’s
business record, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
“When
I picked him, I knew he was a fine business leader and a fine
experienced man.”
“He
is a fine business leader and an experienced man. That matter will run
its course, the Halliburton investigation,” he said, adding that the
investigation would clear Cheney, showing he did nothing wrong while
serving as chief executive.
Asked
if he was confident Cheney did nothing wrong, Bush said: “Yes, I
am.”
Bush
also sidestepped a question on his own business practices a decade ago
as a director of Harken Oil Corp. Bush was investigated by the SEC on
suspicion of insider trading in 1990, but that case was dropped.
Saying
his sale of stock was fully investigated by the SEC and that there was
no case, Bush quickly changed the subject, saying, “The key thing
for the American people is to realize that the fundamentals for
economic vitality and growth are there.”
Until
he was tapped to serve as Bush’s running mate in 2000, Cheney
directed Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, currently under investigation
by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for alleged accounting
misstatements.
The
SEC is investigating how Halliburton accounted for cost overruns on
construction jobs.
Cheney,
who sold some $35 million in Halliburton stock in August 2000,
according to the SEC, has also been named in a civil lawsuit brought
by a conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, on behalf of
investors who allege the company duped them into buying stock due to
overestimated profits, some $445 million from 1999 through 2001.
The
White House has promised to pursue the investigation of Halliburton,
which provides products and services to the energy industry,
“wherever it leads.”
|
|
|
