WASHINGTON, May 9 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Oil services giant Halliburton, already under fire over accusations that its White House ties helped win a major Iraqi oil contract, has admitted Friday, May 9, that a subsidiary paid a multi-million dollar bribe to a Nigerian tax official.

Halliburton, once run by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, paid 2.4 million dollars in bribes to get favorable tax treatment in Nigeria.

"The payments were made to obtain favorable tax treatment and clearly violated our code of business conduct and our internal control procedures," Halliburton said in a regulatory filing.

Cheney led the company from 1995 until August 2000, when he became President George W Bush's running mate.

KBR is building a liquefied natural gas plant and an offshore oil and gas terminal in Nigeria, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Halliburton told the Securities and Exchange Commission the bribe was discovered during an audit of KBR's Nigerian office.

The company, which claimed none of its senior officers were involved, conducted an investigation into the situation and fired 'several' employees based on the investigation's findings.

Halliburton came under fire Wednesday, May 7, for revelations it had been awarded fat contracts for reconstruction of Iraq's oil industry.

Democrats say the contracts, awarded behind closed doors, run counter to the Bush administration's public pledges that the Iraqi oil industry will be run for and by the Iraqi people.

However Democratic lawmaker Henry Waxman has revealed that the contract, which was awarded without the standard public tender procedure, also includes oil production and distribution.

"It now appears however, that the contract with Halliburton -- a company with close ties to the (Bush) administration -- can now include 'operation' of Iraqi oil fields and 'distribution' of Iraqi oil," wrote Waxman to Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Lee Drutman of Citizen Works, a consumers association led by former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, agreed that the nature of the contract would raise questions, particularly given the Cheney connection.

"It's troubling that this contract was done behind closed doors... whenever there is secrecy it invites skepticism," Drutman said.

"Certainly when it is the vice-president's former firm, that invites a lot of people to question the nature of this deal and raises a lot of questions about the administration's policy," he added.

Asked about Halliburton's role in Iraq, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "It's not a White House issue ... the White House does not get involved in who gets contracts."

The United States -- which fought a war in Iraq to rid the country of its alleged weapons of mass destruction, none of which have so far been found -- has always said that Iraq's oil industry belongs to that country's people and not to America.

Halliburton has also come under fire from lawmaker Waxman for its dealings with countries such as Iran, Iraq and Libya despite U.S. embargoes, via subsidiaries in foreign countries and territories such as the Cayman Islands.