Why is Halliburton leaving? They had already left

The only surprising aspect of Halliburton's announcement yesterday that it was moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai, UAE was the secrecy. As the Houston Chronicle reports, execs for the energy giant didn't go out of their way to spread the news, at least in this country:

On Sunday, the company posted a press release on its Web site saying its chairman and CEO, Dave Lesar, had announced that he would be relocating to Dubai to open a "corporate headquarters office." Lesar made the announcement at a regional energy conference being held in the Kingdom of Bahrain. [...] Halliburton officials skipped some of the corporate courtesies that would usually attend such an announcement, failing to notify Houston Mayor Bill White and other community leaders in advance.

Congressional leaders, largely Democrats, are decrying Halliburton's country-hopping at a time when the politically-connected firm is still the largest military contractor in Iraq. But the issues the move raises -- about the pitfalls of a privatized military, the loyalty of companies to nations in a globalized economy -- are much more profound.But in a way, Halliburton's move wasn't shocking.Halliburton has always shown more fealty to its bottom line than the national interest. Remember the 1990s, when Dick Cheney feverishly fought sanctions against Iran -- charter-member-to-be of the "Axis of Evil" -- so Halliburton could pursue oil and gas exploration there? The sanctions didn't fall, but Halliburton set up shop in Iran anyway, using a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands.Why Halliburton's hasty exit this weekend? They claim it's to be closer to the energy action in "the Eastern Hemisphere" -- and in a sense, Halliburton had already moved:

More than 38 percent of Halliburton's $13 billion oil-field services revenue last year came from sources in the Eastern Hemisphere, where the firm has 16,000 of its 45,000 employees.

Halliburton will also save a bundle on taxes ("a hundred million dollars" says one analyst). But another reason not mentioned in most media accounts is that Dubai may be a safe haven as a gathering storm of scandals and legal inquiries threatens to consume the company.For example, last week Ken Silverstein of Harper's pointed to a case dating to the mid-90s where a Halliburton subsidiary apparently bribed Nigerian officials to win construction contracts worth $5.3 billion. After languishing for years, new information has bolstered several international investigations:

[H]alliburton's newly filed 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission includes some interesting new revelations and hints that more damaging information will be coming down the pike. According to the filing there are ongoing probes into the matter in the United States (by the SEC and the Justice Department), in Nigeria, in France, and in Switzerland. "We also believe," reports the filing, "that the Serious Frauds Office in the United Kingdom is conducting an investigation."

Last March, Halliburton moved its annual shareholders meeting to "historic" Duncan, Oklahoma, largely to escape the throngs of human rights and peace activists that routinely converged on Houston to protest the company's operations.Now they're moving for good.UPDATE: Jeremy Scahill reminds us at The Nation of the brewing scandal surrounding Halliburton's KBR subsidiary, which illegally passed on money to private security companies including Blackwater USA.