According to a Monday report in the French daily Le Figaro, French Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke and other French officials had a lengthy meeting last week with representatives of the U.S. Justice Department's anti-corruption department.

French and U.S. officials have been probing for some time allegations of millions of dollars in kickbacks in a Nigerian oil project that involved Halliburton and the French company Technip between 1995 and 2002.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was an executive of Halliburton during much of that period.

Italian and Japanese interests are reportedly also involved in the case.

Le Figaro reported an unnamed U.S. source calling the Nigerian scheme probably the most important corruption file known in Washington.