LAGOS, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Nigeria's anti-corruption agency filed charges against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and the head of oil services firm Halliburton Co <HAL.N> on Tuesday over an alleged scheme to bribe Nigerian officials.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it had filed 16-count charges at a federal high court in Abuja against Cheney, Halliburton Chief Executive David Lesar and two other executives, in a case dating back to the mid-1990s.
It also filed charges against Halliburton as a company, which was once headed by Cheney, and four associated businesses.
"Charges have been filed against Dick Cheney and eight others (individual and entities)," EFCC spokesman Femi Babafemi told Reuters.
Houston-based engineering firm KBR <KBR.N>, a former Halliburton unit, pleaded guilty last year to U.S. charges that it paid $180 million in bribes between 1994 and 2004 to Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion in contracts for the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Niger Delta.
KBR and Halliburton, which was once headed by Cheney, reached a $579 million settlement in the United States but Nigeria, France and Switzerland have conducted their own investigations into the case.
Halliburton split from KBR in 2007 and has said that its current operations in Nigeria are unrelated.
The executives charged in Nigeria also include KBR Chief Executive Officer William Utt, and former KBR chief executive Albert "Jack" Stanley, Babafemi said. (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/ ) (Reporting by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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