Halliburton Co, the main US contractor in Iraq, on Thursday fired back at a Democratic lawmaker who contends that Pentagon auditors have found major problems with how the company drew up cost estimates for billions of dollars of work there.
The Houston company, once run by US Vice President Dick Cheney, said in a statement that a memorandum from California Rep. Henry Waxman only publicly released "selective portions of audit reports," and that releasing those reports could violate established federal policy.
Shares of Halliburton fell as much as 3.3 percent in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Halliburton is under investigation by the US military's inspector general for alleged overcharging for fuel taken into Iraq and has become a lightning rod for Democratic criticism during this election year.
The Pentagon has asked the US Justice Department to join the inquiry, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The company's KBR engineering and construction unit has more than $6 billion worth of work in Iraq, including a major contract to support US troops by serving meals, doing laundry and performing a wide range of other tasks.
"Once again, we have not been given a chance to respond to accusations before they are released publicly," said Randy Harl, president and chief executive of KBR, in a statement.
"We believe that every point in Waxman's letter has a reasonable explanation or could be refuted outright."
Waxman is one of the fiercest critics of Halliburton and its work in Iraq.