Alleged Shell Irish Police Corruption Saga Rumbles On

“This Shell corruption scandal targeting government employees, involved sex, drugs and alcohol. So if the corruption alleged to have taken place in Ireland did occur and only involved alcohol, relevant Garda officers might feel rather short-changed in the light of the information I have now supplied.” 

EMAIL FROM JOHN DONOVAN TO THE IRISH MINISTER Of JUSTICE: SENT 5 APRIL 2013

From: John Donovan <[email protected]>
Subject: Alleged Corruption of Irish Police Force
Date: 5 April 2013 15:57:58 GMT+01:00
To: INFO <[email protected]>

Dear Mr Brennan

Thank you for the acknowledgement you have provided on behalf of the Irish Minister for Justice & Equality.

Can you kindly pass on this further information to Mr. Shatter.

I had not until recently given it serious consideration that Shell E&P Ireland could really have corrupted hundreds of Garda officers, as has been alleged.

On reflection, it may not be as outlandish as it seems, bearing in mind Shell’s track record of corrupting U.S. federal employees. Not the only oil company to do so.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department of The Interior and the Office of Inspector General initiated an investigation in 2006 after receiving allegations from a confidential source that improprieties were occurring within the Royalty in Kind Program (RIK).

The following extracts in italics, not necessarily in original order, are taken directly from the official 2 part report, which I have supplied.

This Shell corruption scandal targeting government employees, involved sex, drugs and alcohol. So if the corruption alleged to have taken place in Ireland did occur and only involved alcohol, relevant Garda officers might feel rather short-changed in the light of the information I have now supplied.

EXTRACTS

In e-mails we retrieved from computer hard drives and network servers, we found numerous indications that many of the events that RIK employees attended with industry officials were purely social. For instance, e-mail from Shell Pipeline Company representative to RIK employee Crystel Edler, regarding attending “tailgating festivities” at a Houston Texans game, stated, ”You’re invited have you and the girls meet at my place at 6am for bubble baths and final prep. Just kidding…”

The Shell Pipeline Company representative’s previous e-mail inviting people to the event was laden with sexual innuendo such as, “We’ve always provided the patrons with beer on demand, but the ever-depleting supplies have dwindled beer storage to dangerously low volumes on occasion…. Although it’s a given that the horsemen will indeed ‘bring the meat to the table.’

In 2004, Shell provided Leyshon with lodging and paid for her ski costs in Keystone, CO. She also admitted to having a “one-night stand” with a Shell employee. She stated that this employee did not prepare Shell’s RIK bids. Leyshon told investigators that she ”had a hit every once in a while in reference to her use of marijuana but noted that this never occurred at the MMS office.

When interviewed, Michael Faulise, Director of Marketing for Shell Exploration and Production Company (Shell E&P), stated that he had worked for Shell since 2000… When asked, Faulise stated that he was unable to recall Leyshon ever paying for any lodging or meals provided by Shell.

We interviewed a senior crude oil trader for Shell Oil Trading Company regarding his relationship with Stacy Leyshon pursuant to a DOJ proffer agreement. The senior trader said he had heard Leyshon and Edler referred to by other Shell employees as the “MMS Chicks” who often drank too much and conducted themselves in an unprofessional manner.

In addition, our investigation disclosed that in 2004, Greg Smith became concerned that an RIK employee might have released confidential pipeline transportation rates to Shell. Apparently, a company official from Poseidon Oil had called Smith to complain that Shell had learned of the confidential transportation rate that Poseidon had negotiated with RIK. We also discovered emails sent among RIK Staff where Edler admitted to talking to “Mike” (Faulise) about the Poseidon deal. On May 6, 2004, Smith sent an e-mail to several RIK marketers including Edler that stated, “I have heard the details of our agreement with Poseidon … including the actual rate we agreed to … was communicated to Shell. If true, this ran counter to our promise to Poseidon to keep this information confidential.”

Edler admitted that she had used cocaine “in the past,” most recently in 2005. However, she claimed that she never used cocaine during business hours and that she never used cocaine with any MMS employees or industry representatives.

We interviewed Mike Faulise, Barbara Layer, and Alan Raymond of Shell, who all confirmed that Edler was an RIK employee they dealt with on both a professional and social basis. Both Faulise and Layer remembered her attending the annual Shell outings. During Faulise’s interview, we showed him a February 2004 e-mail he wrote to Edler stating, “Nobody will say anything about you being here for the night. As far as I’m concerned, you were in a hotel.” Edler responded, “Mikey:..you are sooo wonderful You know how much I totally adore you.”

EXTRACTS END

US Department of the Interior: Office of The Inspector General: Investigative Report – 33 pages

US Department of the Interior: Office of The Inspector General: Investigative Report – 24 pages

EMAIL ENDS

Yours sincerely
John Donovan

UPDATE @ 16.45 on 5 April 2013.

I have received a response email from the private secretary to the Irish Minister for Justice & Equality advising that this matter is being dealt with. Looks like there will be some action to find out the truth.

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