Bogus Group: Geert Vermeulen (Ethics & Compliance Officer) posted an article on Linkedin about the Shell OPL 45 debacle and all that surrounds it. This was a response to the article by Adam Bennett:

Geert, very easy to pass judgments without knowing full facts and in hindsight. Having previously led the business integrity department at Shell I can tell you things in Nigeria are never that clear cut. One thing I remain certain of is the moral compass of shells leadership.

Can’t be the same moral compass most of us are certain of. read more

Malabu Scandal: Jonathan, Etete, Aliyu, Adoke had long-standing relationships, says Italian prosecutor

July 3, 2020 Oladeinde Olawoyin

The major parties mentioned in the controversial Malabu scandal were involved in sundry corrupt activities, Sergio Spadaro, the Public Prosecutor of Milan, told a Milan court on Thursday.

The prosecutor also said that major Nigerian officials named in the controversial deal all had long-standing relationships.

According to activists working with anti-corruption group, Re:Common, who were at the hearing Thursday, Mr Spadaro made this known while going through evidence against the defendants in the controversial deal in Milan. read more

02 JULY 2020

Sergio Spadaro, the Italian deputy prosecutor, on Thursday told a Milan court prosecuting Shell and Eni over the OPL 245/Malabu affair that all parties involved in the deal were corrupt.

He said President Goodluck Jonathan, who led Nigeria from 2010 to 2015, Dan Etete, who allocated OPL 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas — a company in which he had interest as minister of petroleum — in 1998 and Diezani Alison-Madueke, who was minister of petroleum when the oil block was sold to Shell and Eni by Malabu in 2011, all had long-standing relationships. read more

Reuters: 2 July 2020

MILAN (Reuters) – Oil majors Eni <ENI.MI> and Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> were aware that most of the money they spent to buy a Nigerian oilfield in 2011 would go in corrupt payments to politicians and officials, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

“They were kickbacks. And Eni and Shell knew it,” Sergio Spadaro told judges in Milan, summing up the prosecutors’ case in what is one of the industry’s largest corruption scandals ever.

Italy’s Eni and Shell, who deny any wrongdoing, bought the OPL 245 offshore field in 2011 for about $1.3 billion from Malabu, a company owned by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete. read more

Shell says open to new LNG projects in Russia including with Novatek – TASS

MOSCOW, June 29 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is open to taking part in new liquefied natural gas projects in Russia including with private gas firm Novatek, the TASS news agency cited Shell Russia’s chairman Cederic Cremers as saying on Monday.

Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Katya Golubkova

SOURCE

ABUJA, June 23 (Reuters) – Britain’s Supreme Court heard an appeal on Tuesday from Nigerian farmers and fishermen seeking to pursue claims against oil major Royal Dutch Shell over spills in the Niger Delta.

The appeal re-opens the possibility of British multinationals being held liable at home for their subsidiaries’ actions abroad. It comes after a setback in 2018 when a London court ruled that the claims could not be pursued in England.

A judgement is expected later this year or in early 2021, a court spokeswoman said. read more

Nigerians Bid to Sue Shell in U.K. Over Oil-Spill Pollution

Photo source

By William Clowes and Laura Hurst: 23 June 2020, 05:00 BST

• Residents want to use 2019 ruling to access U.K. courts
• Shell says compensation lawsuit should take place in Nigeria

Thousands of Nigerians are asking British judges to give them permission to sue Royal Dutch Shell Plc in London over environmental damage caused by oil spills 3,000 miles away in Africa.

Lawyers for residents of the crude-rich Niger Delta believe a landmark U.K. Supreme Court ruling last year against a London-based miner should set a precedent. Shell, which has blocked the suit twice from entering British courts, says the litigation should be heard in the West African country. read more

More than 40,000 Nigerians from the Ogale and Bille Communities in the Niger Delta will take their legal fight against Shell to the UK Supreme Court on Tuesday, June 23, 2020.

The case will be heard via video link and will be live-streamed online. The hearing is listed for one day. The communities argue in their legal case that they have been severely affected by years of oil spills from oil pipelines owned and operated by Shell. read more

18 JUNE 2020

Nearly 10 years after a clean-up was urged for areas polluted by Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta, work has begun on only 11% of planned sites while vast areas remain heavily contaminated, according to a new investigation by four NGOs.

In 2011 the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report documenting the devastating impact of the oil industry in Ogoniland, and set out urgent recommendations for clean-up. But the new investigation highlights that “emergency measures” proposed by UNEP have not been properly implemented and that the billion-dollar clean-up project launched by the Nigerian government in 2016 has been ineffective. read more

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, Abuja: 17 JUNE 2020

The Federal Government, on Wednesday, re-arraigned the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, on an amended seven-count money laundering charge.

Adoke took fresh plea before trial Justice Inyang Ekwo alongside his co-defendant, Aliyu Abubakar, who is an oil tycoon.

In the charge marked FHC/CR/89/2017, FG alleged that Adoke had in September 2013, accepted the sum of United States Dollars equivalent to N300million from the 2nd Defendant, Abubakar, and thereby committed an offence under section 1 (a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 (as amended) and punishable under section 16 (2)(b) of the same Act. read more

14 JUNE 2020

As oil prices tumble and the world heads into a COVID-19-induced recession, Nigeria needs every naira that it can recover from looted assets that are hidden abroad.

It was never going to be easy getting Nigeria’s money back. The forces lined up against justice for the victims of corruption are mighty, and if they are to be countered, it demands nothing less than the full commitment of the Ministry of Justice to a coherent, well-funded, transparent asset recovery programme. read more

Despite McMillion$, McDonald’s is a saintly global business compared with Shell

By John Donovan

Shell has over 44,000 service stations worldwide and operates in over 70 countries. McDonald’s has almost 38,000 outlets worldwide and operates in over 100 countries. Both multinational giants operate with an ethical question mark hovering over their business activities. Both have run well-known hugely popular promotional games such as McDonald’s Monopoly and Shell Make Money.

McMillion$ is the name of a hit true-crime TV documentary series about fraudulent promotional games conducted by McDonald’s for many years. McDonald’s was an innocent party until the last of the rigged promotions. The story is being made into a movie starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Shell also has a track record of running a flawed multimillion£ game in which all major prizes could be identified and removed by dishonest staff before they reached the public. read more

English translation of an article published by nrc.nl

OPL 245: Shell was tipped off in advance about a pending visit to Nigeria by officers from a Dutch criminal investigative agency “about an extensive corruption investigation into Shell the oil company itself.”

Ambassador leaked to Shell

• Merijn Rengers
• Carola Houtekamer

3 juni 2020 om 22:54

Nigeria In 2017, the Dutch ambassador to Nigeria shared confidential information about a visit from the FIOD with the local Shell director.

At the end of 2017, the Dutch ambassador to Nigeria leaked confidential information about an extensive corruption investigation into Shell to the oil company itself. This was revealed in an integrity investigation into Robert Petri, who was prematurely replaced as ambassador to the Nigerian capital Abuja in early 2019. read more

The ambassador warned Shell that it was under investigation over bribery allegations. (OPL 245)

By Janene Pieters on June 4, 2020 – 09:34

In 2017 the Dutch ambassador to Nigeria, Robert Petri, leaked confidential information about an extensive corruption investigation into Shell to the oil company itself, NRC reports based on information revealed in an integrity investigation into Petri. The ambassador warned Shell that it was under investigation over bribery allegations.

Petri was prematurely replaced as ambassador to the Nigerian capital of Abuja in early 2019 and brought back to the Netherlands. According to NRC, this happened after an integrity investigation into Petri at the end of 2018, and a subsequent investigation into the working climate at the Dutch embassy in Nigeria early in 2019. read more

UPDATE 1-U.S. senators weigh additional sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2

WASHINGTON/FRANKFURT/MOSCOW, May 28 (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators are considering drafting further sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline if Moscow goes ahead and finishes laying pipes, in another blow to a project which has already faced delays.

U.S. sanctions legislation originally sponsored by Senators Ted Cruz, a Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, in December halted work by Swiss-Dutch company Allseas on the pipeline that aims to boost Russia’s gas exports under the Baltic Sea to Germany. read more

By Soni Daniel & Udeme Akpan: 27 MAY 2020

BARELY, a week after the London court had dismissed the $1.1 billion Malabu case, involving the purchase of Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL)245, on grounds of lack of jurisdiction, the court in Milan, Italy, has adjourned a similar case ‘to a yet to be announced date’ because of the negative impact of coronavirus pandemic.

An investigation by Vanguard showed that the adjournment of the case earlier slated for May 14, 2020, has kept the parties – FG, Shell and Eni – waiting.

When contacted, Dr. Umar Jibrilu, media aide, office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, stated: “The case was initially slated for the 14th May, 2020, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been adjourned till a date to be communicated later.” read more