Posts from ‘November, 2009’

The above YouTube video tells the horrific story of Ray Fox, the man who claims he and his family were contaminated by illegal unauthorized toxic outflow from a Shell terminal in Earley, near Reading, England.  At one stage, Ray was treated by a specialist in Germany for radioactive poisoning.

Almost a year ago we published an extensive article on the subject. Ray also believes that contamination from Shell’s terminal killed the parents of his adopted son Christopher, who himself was diagnosed with leukemia.

All lived in close proximity to the Shell terminal which, after multiple attempts at decontamination, Shell sold to a housing developer, Persimmon Homes.

A housing estate now stands on the land once occupied by the Shell terminal, which evidence suggests, has a far more sinister past than anyone could have imagined. Ray Fox lived with his family in a residence -- 337 Wokingham Road -- immediately adjacent to the terminal.  It has been subsequently described on a Channel 4 TV programme as “the most polluted house in Britain.”

There are two possibilities. Firstly there is a body of evidence and expert opinion that a nuclear reactor is buried in a secret bunker at the site. Alternatively, there is evidence the site was used as a staging post for the supply of embargo-busting weapons and munitions, including “tactical nuclear weapons like shells and missiles” to Iraq and Iran. Both possibilities may be correct given Shell’s key involvement in clandestine projects including the so called scandal of the century: The Al-Yamamah BAe oil-for-military-aircraft affair. Extensive information is provided in our article:

Shell, Saudi Arabia, Arms-for-Oil, Corruption, & Radioactive Contamination

The article includes extensive correspondence with Richard Wiseman, the rule-bending Chief Ethics and Non Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. In one letter to Ray, Wiseman described the white worms and dying trees and plants in Ray’s garden, as being “your horticultural problems“. In another, he advanced his novel theory that the cause of radioactive contamination could perhaps be due to the disposal of a smoke detector.

I will leave it to our readers to reach their own conclusions about the way Mr Wiseman treated Ray Fox and his family when Mr Fox was very ill. He is still unwell.

Mr Wiseman has categorically stated that there is no buried nuclear reactor under the housing development. I am sure he believes this to be the truth. However, if a nuclear reactor is buried under the site, we can be sure it was done so in conjunction with the UK government under the then Official Secrets Act. So Mr Wiseman might not know the truth.

Mr Wiseman has not been prepared to say one word about Shell’s key role in the al-Yamamah scandal which may have some bearing on this matter. It is clearly an absolutely taboo subject for Shell.

In July 2009, Ray Fox obtained a report from Prof Dr Chris Busby BSc, PhD, C.Chem, MRSC -- in short, one of the worlds leading radiation risk experts. Prof Busby is Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk. His report contains his conclusions of radiation and radioactivity measurements made by RWE Nukem at 337 Wokingham Road, the property in question. He also refers to his own investigations carried out on site.

Some extracts:

I took samples from the area and the results of analyses of these samples showed anomalous levels of various radioisotopes which would have been consistent with the accusations made by Mr Fox that the Shell site had been the location of a nuclear reactor. This was also supported by my analysis of earlier measurements of samples which showed (a) uranium isotope ratios that were from highly enriched uranium from a bomb, a reactor or some experiment and (b) anomalously high levels of plutonium, also indicative of the presence of material from a bomb, a reactor, or an experiment.

Nevertheless, the results are very interesting and despite the conclusions drawn by Nukem do in  fact indicate extraordinarily high levels of uranium in the house dust.

The house dust appears to be seriously contaminated with uranium; indeed it seems to be 20% pure uranium-238

The Nukem report broadly agreed with earlier surveys with regard to external gamma dose rates which were not above normal background. No adequate attempt was made to further investigate the levels of uranium and its isotope ratios, nor the levels of plutonium in the house and grounds. Re-analysis of the smear sample results by me indicated the presence in the house dust of enormously high quantities of uranium.

New legal proceedings are now underway on behalf of Ray Fox. It seems likely that Mr Wiseman’s callous response to very serious issues may come back to haunt him.

FURTHER VIDEO CLIPS

MUCH MORE INFORMATION HERE

BAE has long been criticised by churches, faith groups, charities and NGOs for arming oppressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. The company is facing allegations of corruption in five continents and is thought to be on the brink of prosecution in British courts.

The Sunday Telegraph

November 15, 2009

Ministry cannot account for where £1bn went in Saudi oil-for-jets affair

DAVID HENCKE

DETAILS OF a damning secret report into Britain’s biggest ever arms deal, which raises questions over how the Ministry of Defence spent more than £lbillion, can be disclosed for the first time by The Sunday Telegraph.

A National Audit Office (NAO) investigation into the controversial £20 billion al-Yamamah arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia found that:

• The MoD could not properly account for nearly £1billion of cash it paid to British Aerospace (now Bae Systems) at the time of the deal;
• Bae also “failed to account” for the £1billion;
• A£30.3 million management fee was paid to Bae even though there was no “legal or contractual obligation” to do so – a payment described by auditors as “irregular”.

Documents also outline how auditors demanded that the Govemment investigate Bae accounts to find out what had happened to the money, and reveal the fears that led to the report being kept secret for 17 years.

The deal, agreed in 1985, saw British Aerospace-built warplanes exported to Saudi Arabia in exchange for oil, which was sold on the open market by the British Government. The deal has long been at the centre of corruption allegations.

The disclosures are certain to raise new questions as to whether millions of pounds were paid in secret commissions to middlemen.

The revelations could not come at a worse time for Bae Systems, which is facing a Serious Fraud Office investigation over other arms deals.

The al-Yamamah deal involved a series of complex transactions. Saudi oil was given to the Government, which then sold it on the open market. The money raised was then used to buy Tornado fighter and ground attack air-craft and Hawk trainer jets
from Bae, which were then exported to Saudi Arabia.

While the NAO report is still secret, correspondence between the MoD and the NAO has been seen by The Sunday Telegraph.

An internal NAO memo, written by auditor J Parsons on July 12, 1991,reveals that “payments of £30.3 million (redacted) have been netted off in a suspense account.  This is contrary to the fundamental principle of gross accounting and as such is irregular.”

It added that “the department have not accounted in their suspense payments for nearly $ 1.5billion [£1billion] of receipts and payments.

“By any definition, failure to account for $1.5billion indicates a certain weakness in control.” In a draft letter, Sir John Bourn, the former auditor general, urges Michael Quinlan, the then permanent secretary at the MOD, to push Bae to account for the money it had been paid.

He demands that the ministry’s auditors go to the company and insist on seeing its accounts.

The letter to Mr Quinlan goes on: “A thorough investigation into the profitability of the sale would reveal whether substantial commissions have been paid. There are, of course, guidelines to cover such circumstances. We would need to see evidence that these have been followed.”

At the time, the NAO had no power to examine the accounts of a private company.

The documents reveal why the report was kept secret.

Under normal circumstances, the ministry’s accounts would have had to be published and qualified by Sir John, leading to a hearing by MPs on the Commons public accounts committee, then chaired by Sir Robert (now Lord) Sheldon.

Such a scenario provoked panic in Whitehall, since the Government had agreed with the Saudis to keep all the details of the deal secret and it could have led to the cancellation of the order for the jets.

By any definition, failure to account for $1.5billion indicates a  certain weakness

One letter from an auditor warns that it could “blow up”. Another says that the whole business was “a murky area”.

Whitehall invoked national security reasons to prevent public reporting of the accounts. Instead, a secret hearing attended by Lord Sheldon, his deputy Michael Shaw, Mr Quinlan and Sir John was held. In that way, the obligation to inform Parliament had been fulfilled, even though the report itself had not been made public.

The hearing must have raised concerns because it led to Sir John’s demand for an audit of Bae’s al-Yamamah accounts, though it is not clear whether this ever happened.

Information on the deal is to be published under Freedom of Information rules this week.

However, many documents are still being kept secret and the NAO has told the Information Commissioner that an entire file on the contract, dating between 1995 and 2002, has been destroyed.

ARTICLE ENDS (Link will be added when available)

RELATED ARTICLE

BAE Systems whistleblower accuses Shell & BP of money laundering Al-Yamamah proceeds

SHELL INVOLVEMENT IN SAUDI ARABIA / AL YAMAMAH BAE ARMS SCANDAL

November 14th, 2009

After a long downward spiral lasting the better part of a year, the London real estate market seems to be finally looking at a turnaround. A host of companies including Google and Royal Dutch Shell are reported to be scouting around for space in the City for their offices. This comes as welcome news for the London real estate market reeling under dropping rentals and rising vacancy levels.

According to real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield, Royal Dutch Shell, the oil company, is looking at around 220,000 sq ft of office space while Google needs around 145,000 sq ft.

Full Article

By IT4me

You might expect Shell IT people to bitterly resent their offshored rivals. The reality is more subtle. Many of those expecting to be replaced actually weren’t. They were quietly absorbed by the business, or re-engaged further up the food chain as “architects”, a new IT role which seemingly emerged just in time. Also, RDS was once 40% British and many Brits have an odd attitude to India – a lingering sense of guilt from the days of empire nicely caught by comic Alexei Sayle when he apologised for the massacre at Amritsar while ordering a takeaway curry. Offshoring may be India’s just reward.

When the goldrush started, there was immediate concern for Shell’s Business Systems. These depend a great deal on KNOWLEDGE held in people’s heads, a quirky Shell-specific mix of business/technical understanding gained over years. The CIO’s empire had never run Business Systems before, so did they even understand this ? Their answer was “KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER”. To this day, nobody knows how it works, yet all the “KT” boxes were ticked after just a handful of international phone calls. I suspected use of the “Vulcan Mind Meld”, but according to the Star Trek website, this requires face-to-face contact, which almost never happened.

These box-ticks anyway count for little, given the phenomenal offshore “churn” rates. Half of any Wipro/IBM team you put together today will be gone within 2-3 months. Insiders are now fearing the demise of “FASTER”, the cheap and effective publisher of Downstream Financials since around 1998. The knowledge needed to implement the annual structure changes in 2010-Q1 has apparently been lost.

Back among the marble palaces of Bangalore’s business district, trade continues despite the recession. A hotel-night here can cost USD 400, more than almost anywhere on the planet. Indian Offshoring is no longer cheap, and now depends on sub-contracting to China and elsewhere to keep prices down. In 2007, Wipro made the headlines and brought us full circle by announcing a new development centre in a low-cost location nobody had ever thought of, one where the inhabitants even speak pretty good English: Atlanta, Georgia !

Can we blame the CIO for not thinking beyond the goldrush ? Perhaps not, given so many other execs had the same idea. But the destruction of all that knowledge is another matter…

Time Article: India Inc.: Bombay’s Boom

Comment by “shellwaarbenjijnu”
on Nov 15th, 2009 at 11:02 am

10 YEARS ON AND NOTHINGS CHANGED

RIGGED SHELL CONTRACT TENDER

THE SHELL “SMART” HIGH COURT TRIAL

Shell offshore workers died as a result of a “Touch F*** All” safety regime

SEX, DRUGS & CORRUPTION SPONSORED BY SHELL

Domain name battle for Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com (guess who lost)

LAGOS, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Suspected oil thieves in Nigeria have increased their attacks on Royal Dutch Shell-operated (RDSa.L) oil facilities, the company said on Friday, reporting five separate incidents already in the last three months.

Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil producer, said regional mechanisms to reduce carbon dioxide output should be expanded into a global cap-and-trade system to ensure more companies are forced to curb emissions.

Lord Myners, the City Minister, and other politicians have urged shareholders to engage with errant companies more actively, prompting a rash of protests over pay at blue-chip companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Royal Bank of Scotland.