Shell pays almost a quarter of a billion dollars in fines and settlements arising from reserves scandal

ShellNews.net: Shell pays almost a quarter of a billion dollars in fines and settlements arising from reserves scandal, but more litigation is underway

“A court hearing is taking place today in the US District Court of New Jersey in respect of a billion dollar class action law suite against Shell by US institutional shareholders”

Wednesday 13 July 2005

Shell has already paid $150 million dollars in fines imposed by the US Securities & Exchange Commission and the UK Financial Services Authority. Shell has now agreed to settle a claim from its former and current US employees for $90 million dollars (subject to court approval) thereby arriving at a combined total of $240 million thus far.

A court hearing is taking place today in the US District Court of New Jersey in respect of a billion dollar class action law suite against Shell by US institutional shareholders. Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz LLP is the lead plaintiff law firm acting for Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System & Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System. The action is also against former and current Shell directors, including Royal Dutch Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer and E & P COE, Malcolm Brinded. Shell auditors/consultants, PriceWaterhouseCoopers & KPMG are also named Defendants in the lawsuit which contains serious allegations of wrongdoing including fraud.

Aside from the reserves related litigation, Shell is appealing against a decision by a Malaysian High Court Judge on 20 Sept 2004 that Shell “unlawfully” deducted money from a Shell employee pension fund. As has been reported in the Malaysian press, many of the relevant Shell pensioners – a group of 399 – are ageing and sickly. Some have already died. Others are losing their memory. The High Court of Appeal has fixed an open hearing for three days commencing Monday 17th October 2005. According to a leaked document in the hands of ShellNews.net, the group plans to arrange for 140 of their members to attend the Appeal. It states in the relevant document: “Your presence in court on these dates would show your unity and teamwork. You would be able to show to the world that we, the poor, the innocent and the weak have been bullied by the strong, arrogant, and heartless Giant Corporation.”

Other Shell pensioner groups are also suing Shell in Malaysia on similar grounds.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.