President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered a thorough investigation of the alleged $2.4 million (N 336 million) involving Halliburton, an American registered oil service company operating in Nigeria.

The company, the world’s second largest oil field services company, had testified in the United States of America that an audit into its accounts revealed that one of its subsidiaries had paid $2.4 million to an entity owned by a Nigerian national to get favourable tax treatment.

Briefing State House correspondents on gover-nment’s position, presidential spokesperson, Mrs. Remi Oyo, said the president had, in line with its fight against corruption ordered an investigation of the case.

"The president has said that government will not watch a situation where the economy will be left bleeding", she said, adding that the federal government was determined to know the perpetrators and how much the country lost in terms of tax evasion.

The Houston, Texas-based company, once run by current American vice president, Mr. Dick Cheney, said it had declared to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it made about $2.4 million in improper payments in Nigeria.

It revealed that the Nigerian pretended to be a tax consultant, although he worked for a local tax authority, and helped the firm to evade tax payment to the federal government of Nigeria.

Halliburton said the payment "clearly violated" its code of conduct and internal control procedures and added that it was cooperating with the SEC in its review of the situation.

The company might also have to pay as much as an additional $5 million (N700 million) in taxes to Nigeria, the report said, but the company said in its defence that none of its senior officers were involved in the payment, stressing that it had sacked some employees based on its own investigations.

Oil service firms operating in Nigeria mostly referred to as contractors, are responsible for the execution of major industry projects including seismic acquisition and processing, drilling and many others. They get contracts from multinational oil companies through tendering stages from pre-qualification.