Posts under ‘Corruption’

By John Donovan

On 31 March, Richard Wiseman, the Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc will be making a speech at a seminar in London: “Best Practice in Combating Corruption Extortion and Bribery“

“The event will examine new developments and tools in fighting corruption and providing practical methods for addressing and investigating extortion and bribery.”

We can only surmise that Mr Wiseman is present on the basis of being a poacher turned gamekeeper.

When he was Legal Director of Shell UK Limited we brought to his attention irrefutable evidence of corrupt practices inside Shell.  A Shell executive on the make had plotted with colleagues on how to deceive companies participating in what they foolishly thought was an honest tender process for a major Shell contract. The companies in question were enticed into confidentiality agreements under false pretenses, so that Shell could steal intellectual property from them and prevent them offering it to rival oil companies.

The contract was eventually given to a company which never took part in the tender. A company with whom the Shell executive had a close personal relationship. Evidence shows that he had an offshore bank account and had recorded in his diary a devious plan to set up his own business inside Shell and then retire from the company at the age of 35.

We also brought the extensive documentary evidence of this ruthless conspiracy to the attention of all directors of Shell UK, Shell Transport and Royal Dutch Petroleum. We invited Malcolm Brinded to disassociate himself from the thoroughly dishonest Shell executive in question. Instead of doing so, Shell senior management, including Wiseman, gave him its full backing.

It is therefore the height of hypocrisy that Wiseman was appointed to his current position and even more outrageous that he has the audacity to make another speech on the subject – unless he is giving tips on predatory conduct against small companies lulled into a false sense of security by sham business principles.

The Irish Times – Friday, March 5, 2010

MARY CAROLAN and LORNA SIGGINS

THE STATE and oil giant Shell have lost their bid to stop two Mayo residents pursuing High Court claims as to whether a ministerial consent given eight years ago for the Shell Corrib gas pipeline is valid.

Ms Justice Mary Laffoy ruled yesterday that Brendan Philbin and Bríd McGarry were entitled to have that issue and other public law claims determined by the court.

Responding to the ruling , Ms McGarry of Gortacragher, Co Mayo, said last night that she was “delighted that we can continue with our counter-claim”.

Ms McGarry and her mother Teresa owned 20 per cent of the land on the original Corrib gas pipeline route.

McGarr Solicitors, acting for Ms McGarry and Rossport landowner Mr Philbin, said the defendants welcomed the judgment. Shell EP Ireland said it had no comment to make.

The residents claim it is in the public interest to have the court decide the issues.

Among the issues they want determined is whether the consent of the minister for natural resources of April 2002 for the gas pipeline was valid. They are also challenging the constitutionality of provisions of the Gas Act 1976 under which the consent was provided.

In preliminary motions, the State and Shell had asked Ms Justice Laffoy to rule that the residents were out of time to bring claims for orders quashing the ministerial consent and various compulsory purchase orders over certain lands acquired for the pipeline, including lands of Mr Philbin.

The residents had set out their claims in 2005 in a defence and counterclaim to proceedings brought against them by Shell, which led to five men, including Mr Philbin, known as the Rossport Five spending 94 days in jail after refusing to abide by an order not to interfere with the pipeline work.

Shell later discontinued its proceedings after saying it would seek an alternative route but the residents want to proceed with their counter-claim.

Ms Justice Laffoy found while the reliefs sought fell within the scope of the relevant court rules, the time limits set out in those rules did not apply in the circumstances of this case.

She said the challenge to the ministerial consent and the compulsory acquisition orders was first initiated by the residents via their defence to a private law action by Shell against them.

In that action, Shell relied on the validity of the consent and acquisition orders to establish the lawfulness of and justify its actions against the residents, she said. The residents claimed Shell’s conduct was unlawful and were seeking remedies in those circumstances.

If she was wrong and the time limits applied, she believed the residents had not set out good reasons for extending the time limits.

The impugned consent and other instruments related to a major infrastructural project involving enormous expenditure by Shell and the residents were not entitled to take a tactical decision to postpone their public law challenge pending the outcome of the planning process.

The judge noted the court’s jurisdiction to review the constitutionality of provisions of the Gas Act 1976 is derived from the Constitution. Once a person has the necessary legal standing to bring such a challenge, no time limit could curtail that jurisdiction, she said.

The judge ruled the residents were not barred from pursuing the claims advanced in the public law module of their case.

By John Donovan

Some strange events at Shell Brunei Petroleum (SBP).

Around four weeks ago we published an email from a senior official of the Brunei government writing from The Chairman’s Office of Shell Brunei Petroleum, explaining the mysterious absence of  the companies Managing Director, Dr Grahaeme Henderson. It said he was absent for medical treatment.

We understand from our sources that in November the head of SBP HSE left the country in a hurry and did not return.

Now we learn that a number of fraud investigations are going on, allegedly involving Nigerian expats.

Perhaps all of these matters are unconnected. Or it could be that Dr Henderson was pressing for action to be taken in relation to the corruption, when he encounterted a medical problem that necessitated his temporary exit from Brunei.

We have commented before on the corrupting relationship between Shell and the head of the Brunei Royal Family, the Sultan of Brunei.

Borneo Bulletin: Fraud probe at oil company

By Ignatius Stephen

Saturday 6 February 2010

In an effort to keep the country’s cooperate image clean the Brunei Anti Corruption Bureau has begun a series of massive fraud investigations against more than 10 senior oil company officials.

The amount probed, according to reliable sources, exceeds $5 million and both local and foreign employees are allegedly linked to what is quoted as “irregular material purchase procedures and related matters.”

The company Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) has already dismissed some of the officials after questioning while the affairs of others are still being looked into, informed sources said. Some of the others are under investigation, it is learnt.

The matter is still in its early stage and a thorough check has been on the way for some time and a source said that “no stone will be left unturned.” It is understood the alleged fraud was discovered during a routine audit check.

The authorities, it is understood, are looking into the allegations seriously, although no arrests have been made apart from the termination and suspension of some of the alleged miscreants.

Oil and gas are the country’s lifeblood and the authorities are determined keep the industry clean.

Rumours of the alleged fraud have been strong in recent times although no public announcements have been made so far.

The country’s oil industry is mainly based in Seria, in the south of the capital.

Oil and gas account for 48 percent of the country’s economic output that is helped by the country’s stability and an efficient and clean oil industry sector helping to maintain the country’s production levels.

Although there have been instances of petty irregularities in the oil sector in the past that brought about court action, instances have been rare.

In recent times other overseas oil companies have begun major operations here.

SOURCE ARTICLE

RELATED ARTICLE

Brunei launches investigation into fraud at Brunei Shell

An previous investigation by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into reports BAE paid about 1 billion pounds over a decade to Prince Bandar bin Sultan in connection with the al-Yamamah arms deal had been halted in December 2006 by former Prime Minister Tony Blair after the probe angered Saudi Arabia.

Printed below is self-explanatory email correspondence relating to a Grampian Police investigation arising from allegations made by Mr. Bill Campbell, the former HSE Group Auditor of Shell International. His allegations relate to the Shell Brent Bravo Scandal and related issues, and a pending decision by the Scottish legal authority – the Procurator Fiscal – on whether to bring a prosecution.

First ever criminal case is brought during corruption investigations into British weapons manufacturer, which began more than five years ago after disclosures in the Guardian

David Leigh and Rob Evans
Friday 29 January 2010 19.47 GMT

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Colorado’s Top 5 Scandals of 2009

Gale Norton’s Questionable Oil Industry Work: In September 2009 the Department of Justice issued subpoenas as part of an investigation into Bush administration Interior Secretary and former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton. The Department of Justice is reportedly investigating whether Gale Norton used her position in the Interior Department to benefit Royal Dutch Shell by allowing her department to enter into three potentially lucrative amendments to oil leases with Royal Dutch Shell on federal land in Colorado, then took a job as an adviser to the oil-shale division of Royal Dutch Shell.

SOURCE ARTICLE

QUOTE FROM ROYAL DUTCH SHELL CEO PETER VOSER IN A COMMENT TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: “I was very positively surprised by how you kept your eyes on the operational performance — on the day-to-day job you had to do — while going through the uncertainties of the last few months…”

Introduction by John Donovan: Printed below is a syndicated Bloomberg article published by the Houston Chronicle containing the above quote. It must rank as Grade A BS on a par with Shell Ethics and Compliance Chief, Richard Wiseman, making an anti-corruption speech, when in fact he has a track record of supporting and encouraging corruption, deceit and predatory IP theft by Shell managers.

We are encouraged to speak out even more frankly now that we have written confirmation from Shell that the company decided long ago that it will never sue us, apparently because we have too much Shell “internal laundry.”

Instead, discredited pathetic Shell executive directors are reduced to launching a covert global spying operation directed against Shell employees specifically in connection with this website. And they could not manage to even keep that secret. More humiliation.

Houston Chronicle: Bloomberg News

Shell chief calls 2010 ‘challenging’ for refining, costs

Dec. 29, 2009, 5:59AM

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, expects the pressure on refining margins and costs to persist next year amid a challenging economic situation.

“I expect that 2010 will be, from a macro environment point of view, still a challenging year,” Peter Voser, chief executive officer at the Hague-based Shell, said in a video to employees. “We’ll see pressure on refining margins and some further pressure on competitive performance regarding costs.”

Shell and competitors such as Exxon Mobil Corp. are cutting costs as they seek to rebuild profits battered by a global recession and reduced energy demand. Shell, whose refining earnings fell 47 percent in the third quarter, is responding by cutting 5,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of its workforce, and reducing operating costs by about $1 billion in the first nine months of the year.

Voser, who took over from Jeroen van der Veer in July, wants to streamline operations after saying the company was “too complex.” As the first non-British or Dutch national to head Shell in its 102-year history, he started off by announcing a reorganization called Transition 2009, almost two years after a similar shake-up at BP.

“I was very positively surprised by how you kept your eyes on the operational performance — on the day-to-day job you had to do — while going through the uncertainties of the last few months,” Voser said to employees. “We’re closing Transition 2009 in 2009. What we’re doing now is actually embedding what we want to achieve with the restructuring into the plans and your activities in 2010.”

The refining margin is the amount companies make by turning crude oil into products like gasoline.

www.bloomberg.com

COMMENT POSTED ON ARTICLE BY JOHN DONOVAN

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser is quoted in the Bloomberg article as saying to Shell employees: “I was very positively surprised by how you kept your eyes on the operational performance — on the day-to-day job you had to do — while going through the uncertainties of the last few months,”

This unfortunately confirms that he is just another B/S merchant. I operate a website which a Shell official has acknowledged “is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out.”

According to our network of Shell internal sources, for which we are renowned, the Voser restructuring has been a disastrous distraction with thousands of employees forced to reapply for a limited number of jobs. Voser has described this totally ruthless policy as “an interesting exercise”.  As per “Terminators” comment, thousands of jobs are also being outsourced to China and India.

In the meantime, Shell is doing business with the fanatical Iranian regime which supplies munitions that kill and maim American soldiers. Also with the Libyan dictator responsible for the bombing of Pan Am 103.

I therefore entirely endorse the call for Americans to boycott this evil company which is prepared to deal with the devil if needed, to get its hands on hydrocarbon reserves.

Remember, this is the same multinational which settled a US lawsuit in June 2009 for $15.5 million in respect of the torture and murder of its opponents in Nigeria. They rightfully objected to the decades long plunder and pollution of their Country by the Anglo Dutch oil giant.

Posted by John Donovan: http://royaldutchshellplc.com/

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A group led by Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, signed a deal to develop Iraq’s Majnoon supergiant oilfield, pledging to spend tens of billions of dollars on the project over the next two decades.

Shell, along with Malaysia’s state-run Petronas, won the rights to Majnoon, a major prize near Iraq’s southern oil hub of Basra, in an energy auction earlier this month.

Mounir Bouaziz (above right), a vice president of Shell Gas and Power, and Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, deputy director of the Iraqi Oil Ministry’s licensing office, signed the initial agreement in downtown Baghdad on Sunday.

It must now be sent to the cabinet for approval.

Bouaziz said the investment over the life of the 20-year deal would be “tens of billions” of dollars.

“When the cabinet give agreement to the contract, and the final contract is officially signed, we will start immediately. We know the area, and we have been coming to Basra for more than a year and a half,” he told reporters after the signing.

Shell is waiting for final approval of a natural gas deal also located in southern Iraq, which it will take on in partnership with Mitsubishi.

Then there is Exxon Mobil and Shell’s initial deal for West Qurna Phase One, a field left over from an initial bidding round that concluded in June. That field has reserves of an estimated 8.7 billion barrels.

Majnoon is even bigger. With a whopping 12.6 billion barrels, Majnoon is one of the world’s largest untapped fields.

Iraq is hoping a host of deals in the works will turn it into a major world energy player and increase output capacity to 12 million barrels a day (bpd) in six or seven years, putting it close on the heels of global leader Saudi Arabia.

Output now stands around 2.5 million bpd as the industry struggles to overcome the legacy of continuous war, sanctions and underinvestment over decades.

Oil officials have been in a triumphant mood since the December 11-12 auction, which awarded seven contracts to foreign firms.

For Majnoon, the Shell group proposed a per-barrel remuneration fee of $1.39 and pledged to increase output to 1.8 million bpd from a current production level of 45,900 bpd.

Shell has a 60 percent stake in the consortium, while Petronas holds 40 percent.

(Writing by Missy Ryan; editing by John Stonestreet)

REUTERS ARTICLE

RELATED ARTICLE:

Mounir Bouaziz, Shell VP for making deals with corrupt governments

“Security is an important element,” said Mounir Bouaziz, a senior executive from Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L). “I wouldn’t do anything unless I was convinced we had all the measures in place. We have been in Basra since October 2008. We have been doing work and visiting sites, so we learned a lot about security. Security is about behavior and relationships.”