EMAIL FROM JOHN DONOVAN TO RICHARD WISEMAN, CHIEF ETHICS & COMPLIANCE OFFICER, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC: 14 JAN 2009
—–Original Message—–
From: John Donovan [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 14 January 2009 21:04
To: Wiseman, Richard RM SI-RDS-CCO
Cc: Raymond Fox
Subject: RAY FOX & THE FORMER SHELL TERMINAL AT EARLEY
Dear Mr Wiseman
I have printed below a revised version of the letter being circulated (without further reference to Shell) to residents living on or near the land once occupied by the Shell Terminal at Earley.
I draw your attention in particular to the paragraph shown in red text.
The correspondence between Ray Fox and his local MP (Martin Salter) will be posted on rayfox.info within 24 hours.
Regards
John Donovan
EMAIL ENDS
(THE AFOREMENTIONED LETTER TO RESIDENTS IS PRINTED BELOW WHERE INDICATED)
EMAIL RESPONSE FROM RICHARD WISEMAN, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC: 15 JAN 2009
From: <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:14:12 +0100
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: RAY FOX & THE FORMER SHELL TERMINAL AT EARLEY
You have of course completely misrepresented, yet again, my remark about the disposal of a smoke detector.
The fact that I have not commented on anything else cannot of course be taken as indicating agreement with anything you have said about this matter.
Regards
Richard Wiseman
Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer
Royal Dutch Shell plc
Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA
Registered in England and Wales number 4366849
Registered Office: Shell Centre, London, SE1
Headquarters: Carel van Bylandtlaan 30, 2596 HR
The Hague, The Netherlands
Email: [email protected]
Internet: http://www.shell.com
RESPONSE FROM JOHN DONOVAN TO RICHARD WISEMAN: 15 JAN 2009
From: John Donovan <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:50:26 +0000
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: Raymond Fox <[email protected]>
Conversation: RAY FOX & THE FORMER SHELL TERMINAL AT EARLEY
Subject: Re: RAY FOX & THE FORMER SHELL TERMINAL AT EARLEY
Dear Mr Wiseman
Thank you for your response.
I will add the following to the letter being sent to local residents.
P.S. I received an email from Mr Wiseman on 15 January 2009 after he had read the above letter which had changed slightly from an earlier draft. Mr Wiseman said:
You have of course completely misrepresented, yet again, my remark about the disposal of a smoke detector.
The fact that I have not commented on anything else cannot of course be taken as indicating agreement with anything you have said about this matter.
Anyone who wishes to do so can read on rayfox.info the entire correspondence, including Mr Wiseman’s comment about the hypothetical disposal of a smoke detector. A smoke screen detector would be a more useful device in the current context. You will see from the correspondence that Mr Wiseman has been extremely selective in relation to the issues he has chosen to address. He totally ignored most issues. Please draw your own conclusion about who is being straightforward, ethical and open. Please also note that Shell self-evidently has decided that it would not be wise to have these matters dealt with by the courts in circumstances where it could not thwart proceedings, evade important material questions and would have to disclose all relevant documents in the discovery process.
I will hold off from any further action until tomorrow just in case you wish to comment further.
Regards
John Donovan
EMAIL ENDS
LETTER TO RESIDENTS OF AMBER CLOSE & LAMBOURNE GARDENS, EARLEY, READING (INCLUDES ADDED “P.S.”)
JANUARY 2009
SUBJECT: Alleged radioactive contamination from the former Shell Terminal at Earley
Dear Resident
I am writing to you in my capacity as the editor of a non-commercial website focused on the activities of the Royal Dutch Shell Group.
The One World Trust, an independent organisation linked to the Houses of Parliament and the United Nations, has publicly applauded our role in holding Royal Dutch Shell to account for its actions.
As you may be aware, a number of TV and Radio programmes and newspaper articles have raised the issue of a possible radioactive contamination problem arising from an alleged buried nuclear bunker at the former Shell Petrochemical Terminal at Early. The BBC commissioned independent research carried out by a leading radiation scientist, Dr Chris Busby. The results were alarming.
It appears from our inquiries that basically there are two sides to the debate. All parties potentially liable if it turns out that radioactive contamination from the Shell Terminal has created grounds for legal action, say there is no radioactivity above normal background level. Independent experts take a different view, with tests by Dr Busby revealing “some of the highest levels of plutonium and uranium contamination ever recorded in Britain”.
I sent a draft article on this matter to Shell on 11 November 2008. I also supplied links to many documents, reports, video and other relevant information. This resulted in extensive email correspondence with Mr Richard Wiseman, a barrister and former Legal Director of Shell UK, who is now a General Counsel and Chief Ethical and Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Mr Wiseman eventually advanced the theory that the radioactive contamination could have resulted from the hypothetical disposal of a smoke detector. I pointed out that Dr Busby had indicated that the radioactive contamination had a unique fingerprint that could only have come from a nuclear source, such as a nuclear reactor or nuclear bomb.
Mr Wiseman did give me a categorical written assurance that no nuclear bunker is buried under the former Shell terminal on which the homes in Amber Close were built. I am sure he is absolutely sincere in his denial. Normally such a categorical statement from such a high level source could be accepted and put an end to the matter.
The problem here is that Shell executives sometimes deliberately keep in-house lawyers in the dark about highly sensitive matters (in this case involving classified information). It was clear from an article published by The Independent on 10 May 2004 that Shell’s in-house army of over 600 lawyers, including Mr Wiseman, were kept in the dark about a multibillion dollar securities fraud perpetrated by senior Shell executives.
The fraud cost Shell shareholders a combined total of about $850 MILLION USD in fines from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and the UK Financial Services Authority, class action settlements and associated legal costs. A number of Shell executives, including the Shell Group Chairman, Sir Phillip Watts, were forced to resign, but still received fat cat payoffs to keep them sweet, reportedly $18.5 million in the case of Sir Phillip.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/let-me-in-im-a-lawyer-562836.html
Mr Wiseman’s written assurance is also undermined by the content of a draft email sent by Mr Wiseman to his colleagues for consultation and clearance immediately before his reply. We were supplied with a copy from a third party. Wiseman has confirmed the authenticity of the draft email. It contained an admission about radioactive contamination, which was removed from the email actually sent in reply.
In regard to ethical considerations, you need to be aware that there is a significant dark side to Shell stretching back many decades. It includes support for Hitler and the Nazi party. Royal Dutch Shell Director General, Sir Henri Deterding, alleged to have financed the Nazi party, spent 4 days as a guest of Adolf Hitler at Hitler’s mountain retreat, the Eagles Nest in Berchtesgaden.
Shell’s more recent track record includes a leadership role in an illegal cartel for which the company received another huge fine. Only a few years ago it admitted using undercover activity in sinister missions directed at Greenpeace and other organisations. Mr Wiseman has himself admitted in writing Shell’s use of another agent who was caught red-handed using fake documents and a fake company on behalf of Shell.
The glossy advertising campaigns can also be deceptive. Shell was recently fined by the UK and Dutch Advertising Authorities for “greenwash” which involved an advert showing flowers rising from its refinery chimneys, when it fact, the company has attracted multimillion fines for deadly release of toxic substances into the air and into groundwater.
A racketeering trial is commencing against Shell in February in the USA. The case relates to alleged serious crimes against the Ogoni people in Nigeria where Shell has an atrocious human rights record after plundering natural resources and polluting the environment. The Nigeria hero and peace campaigner, Ken Saro-Wiwa, was murdered by a corrupt military regime, which was supported by Shell.
What it boils down to is that contrary to the nostalgic message in a Bing Crosby jingle performed in a classic Shell TV commercial, you cannot be sure of Shell.
Inquiries have revealed two possible sources of radioactive contamination at Earley. We have already mentioned the alleged buried nuclear bunker. In this connection, declassified correspondence and agreements between Shell and the UK Atomic Energy Authority confirm that contrary to information given by Mr Wiseman in 2004, Shell’s involvement in nuclear matters is far greater than he indicated.
Declassified UK Ministry of Defence documents and other evidence indicate an entirely different source for the radioactive contamination. They confirm that Shell was involved in what has been described as a money-laundering role in the BAE Al Yamamah “oil-for-arms” scandal involving the sale of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. There is also credible evidence that more arms, including nuclear weapons, were shipped from the Earley Terminal to Iran and Iraq.
There may of course be top-secret documents that have not been declassified because of long-term sensitivity. This would likely apply in the case of any secret project involving long term radiation emissions.
Since Shell is not short of funds given its windfall multibillion-dollar profits in the last 18 months or so from high oil prices, I suggested to Shell that it should fund research to establish once and for all if there is a buried nuclear bunker.
This is important because there is a vast difference between a buried nuclear bunker from which radioactive contamination could potentially cause a problem for many decades, compared with radioactive contamination stemming from a transient source which may have emitted radiation for a short time at the terminal many years ago.
Obviously while this uncertainly remains, the local population is likely to be justifiably worried about health implications and the possible impact on house prices.
If you want to read more including the initial and follow-up articles, the declassified documents, various medical and scientific reports, plus my recent extensive correspondence with Shell, visit www.rayfox.info
This letter is published on the site with working links to cited information.
Shell has had advance sight of this letter and therefore the opportunity to obtain an injunction if anything stated as fact is untrue. The fact that you are reading it now is proof that Shell has not legally challenged the veracity of the content. It also means that Shell refused to fund the independent research needed to eliminate the buried nuclear bunker allegation.
I want to make it plain that I have no personal opinion about the alleged radioactive contamination because I have no expertise whatsoever in such matters. However, if I lived in your area and was aware of the allegations stemming from the findings of experts such as Dr Busby and Dr Karta Badsha, I would press Shell to fund an independent investigation so as to put my mind at rest.
If you would like to ask Shell to reconsider the matter, I suggest that you send a letter or email to Mr Wiseman.
Mr Richard Wiseman
Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer
Royal Dutch Shell plc
Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA
Email: [email protected]
If you or any family member has suffered from any illness, which may stem from radiation poisoning, please let me know. My email address is [email protected]
In December Ray Fox sent an email to over 600 MP’s. He received support for the call for Shell to fund research. The extraordinary subsequent correspondence with Ray’s constituency MP, Martin Salter, can also be viewed on rayfox.info
Yours faithfully
John Donovan
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http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/semaphoreserver?DB=semukparl&FILE=search
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P.S. I received an email from Mr Wiseman on 15 January 2009 after he had read the above letter which had changed slightly from an earlier draft. Mr Wiseman said:
You have of course completely misrepresented, yet again, my remark about the disposal of a smoke detector.
The fact that I have not commented on anything else cannot of course be taken as indicating agreement with anything you have said about this matter.
Anyone who wishes to do so can read on rayfox.info the entire correspondence, including Mr Wiseman’s comment about the hypothetical disposal of a smoke detector. A smoke screen detector would be a more useful device in the current context. You will see from the correspondence that Mr Wiseman has been extremely selective in relation to the issues he has chosen to address. He totally ignored most issues. Please draw your own conclusion about who is being straightforward, ethical and open. Please also note that Shell self-evidently has decided that it would not be wise to have these matters dealt with by the courts in circumstances where it could not thwart proceedings, evade important material questions and would have to disclose all relevant documents in the discovery process.
LETTER TO LOCAL RESIDENTS ENDS
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