[Ahh, death by a thousand innuendos. Wait, that's a bad thing.]
[So Chris Doss, out of curiousity, what's there to know about Tyumen and the Alfa group? And how did one distinguish a true mafia firm from a run of the mill tough oligarchical competitor in the 90s in Russia?]
Cheney firm won $3.8bn contracts from government The Bush files - Observer special Ed Vulliamy in New York and Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow Saturday July 20 2002 The Guardian
The oil services company once headed by United States Vice-President Dick Cheney reaped massive rewards in government contracts and bank loans after he took its helm, including one deal with a Russian firm under investigation for mafia connections.
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The most eye-catching contract was for the refurbishment of a Siberian oilfield, Samotlor, for the Tyumen oil company of Russia. The company was loaned $489m in credits by the US Export-Import Bank after lobbying by Halliburton; it was in return to receive $292m for the refurbishments.
The White House and State Department tried to veto the Russian deal. But after intense lobbying by Halliburton the objections were overruled on Capitol Hill. One of Halliburton's top lobbyists was David Gribben, who had been Cheney's chief of staff at the Pentagon.
The State Department's concerns were based on the fact that Tyumen was controlled by a holding conglomerate, the Alfa Group, that had been investigated in Russia for mafia connections.
Alfa strongly denies that it has ever had any criminal connection, describing the allegations as 'nonsense'.
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