Pentagon suspends Halliburton payments

Under intense scrutiny over billing and contracts related to the war in Iraq, Houston-based Halliburton Co. has once more come under the watch of the U.S. military, according to news reports.

The Pentagon is suspending $159.5 million in meal charges submitted by Halliburton’s Kellogg Brown & Root unit after the Defense Contract Audit Agency found incomplete files and bills for meals served at 64 Army dining facilities for soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait.

The government has already suspended $35.8 million in contested charges, and auditors said Halliburton had voluntarily deleted $141 million from dining room billings in which costs exceeded the number of meals served.

Halliburton, the U.S. military’s largest contractor in Iraq, said late on Monday that no final decision had been made about the $159.5 million withheld by the military, and the company was confident this money, as well as the $141 million, would be paid.