Its employees — there are 180,000 around the world — have reported that customers accuse them of “working for Nazis.” There have been boycott threats…

By John Donovan

A New York Times article published on 14 June 2019 reveals that billionaire descendants of a family who control a company which owns Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Pret A Manger and a number of other famous brands are grappling with the exposure of an unspeakable secret – a Nazi history. 

Extracts:

Decades after World War II, Benckiser evolved into one of the largest consumer goods conglomerates on the planet. Known today as JAB Holding Company…

For decades, they say, they did not know about their father’s Nazism and the abuses that took place at the company they inherited: read more

The screenshot Information about James W.D. Hall, Head of Royal Dutch Shell Global Corporate Security was downloaded on 11 June 2019 and assumed to be correct and current at that time. He is in charge of over 250 Shell security supervisory staff worldwide. Is he yet another Shell MI6 hire, as per his predecessor, Ian Forbes McCredie? The selection of authentic high-level Shell internal emails below provides some indication of the character and ethics of senior Shell executives and Shell’s hired spooks. More court exhibits will be added on a regular basis until further notice.  

SOURCE

Related article: Spectacular falling out of ‘Security Professionals’ at the top of Shell

Extract from the 80-page legal complaint (recommended read to understand why Shell could not let the case go to trial)

Mr. Hall’s own e-mails and statements clearly prove that he violated Section 3.4 of Shell’s Code of Conduct, which states, in relevant part, that “[w]hen making employment decisions, including hiring, evaluation, promotion, training, development, discipline, compensation and termination, you must base them solely on objective factors, including merit, qualifications, performance and business considerations. . . . [Y]ou should understand the value of diversity and must not discriminate in any way based on race, colour, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, ethnic origin or nationality.” read more

May 28, 2019, 10:27 AM ET|About: Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A)| By Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Production at the Groningen natural gas field in the Netherlands needs to be cut faster than planned, Dutch gas sector regulator SodM says after a 3.4 magnitude earthquake hit the region last week.

“From a safety perspective, SodM recommends that not more than 12B cm be extracted from the Groningen gas field in the following gas year in the event of an average winter,” the regulator says. read more

Earlier this month, a Dutch court ruled that it had the jurisdiction and would hear a damages lawsuit against Shell brought by the widows of activists executed by Nigeria’s government after the protests in Ogoniland in the 1990s.

By Tsvetana Paraskova – May 27, 2019, 4:00 PM CDT

The Nigerian unit of Royal Dutch Shell doesn’t have any plans to return to exploring or producing oil in Ogoniland in Nigeria’s Rivers state after it ceased operations there in the 1990s, Igo Weli, General Manager, External Relations, at the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said this weekend at the release of Shell Nigeria’s 2019 Briefing Notes.

SPDC, as operator of the SPDC Joint Venture, carried out exploration and production operations in Ogoniland from the 1950s until the early 1990s. Production ceased in 1993 following a rise in violence, threats to staff, and attacks on facilities, Shell said. read more

NAM is the Shell/Exxon Joint Venture company responsible for the earthquake blighted Groningen Gas Field and consequential potential bill for untold billions to deal with damaged residences.

English translation of an article published 22 May 2019 by De Telegraaf

Major earthquake in Groningen: “Bed quivered, everyone awake”

Updated Yesterday, 9:26 AM
Yesterday, 6:38 AM in the UK

GRONINGEN – The province of Groningen was shocked early on Wednesday morning by an earthquake. This had a power of 3.4, according to the KNMI. According to the meteorological service, the epicentre of the quake was in the village of Westerwijtwerd. That lies as the crow flies about 18 kilometres northeast of the capital Groningen.

The worst earthquake in Groningen so far was in 2012 in Huizinge (in the municipality of Loppersum). It had a power of 3.6. In January an earthquake occurred in the Groningen village of Zeerijp. It also had a power of 3.4. The day after that quake, about a thousand reports of damage arrived. According to the KNMI, this new quake will most likely again cause many damage reports. read more

Questions were raised at the Shell AGM on Tuesday about the earthquakes that occurred last weekend in the Groningen region and about the delays in NAM compensation payments arising from past earthquake damage to Groningen residences. Ben van Beurden apologised for the delays. The following day, a “major” earthquake occurred. See the FD article below. NAM is the Shell/Exxon Joint Venture company responsible for the earthquake blighted Groningen Gas Field and consequential potential bill for untold billions to deal with damaged residences.

Printed below is an English translation of an article published 22 May 2019 by the Dutch FT, Financieele Dagblad.

Wiebes finds one word important in Groningen earthquakes: pace

From our editor: Last update: 10 pm: May 22, 2019

Minister Wiebes of Economic Affairs and Climate sympathizes with the people of Groningen, who are ‘affected again by new damage and are concerned about their safety.’ That is what the VVD minister said on Wednesday during a – previously planned – general consultation on Groningen gas extraction.

“One thing is now important on all fronts: more speed, more pace,” says Wiebes. The minister emphasized in a statement before the start of the debate that the reduction of gas extraction, which reduces the quakes, is ahead of schedule. “But we are looking for more ways to get the extraction down faster.” Opposition politicians are critical. Henk Nijboer (PvdA) states that Wiebes has said ‘nothing new’ and Sandra Beckerman (SP) wants a debate with Prime Minister Rutte to be held. read more

Shell is outraged that government services have tapped telephone calls from employees. These are employees of Shell itself and subsidiary Shell Chemie Nederland. This eavesdropping operation led by the Public Prosecution Service (OM) took place during the internal investigation by Shell employees into the causes of a major explosion… The OM accuses Shell Chemie Nederland of knowingly putting people’s lives in danger…

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch FT, Financieele Dagblad.

Shell angry about eavesdropping in relation

to Moerdijk explosion

Vasco van der Boon

Shell is outraged that government services have tapped telephone calls from employees. These are employees of Shell itself and subsidiary Shell Chemie Nederland.

This eavesdropping operation led by the Public Prosecution Service (OM) took place during the internal investigation by Shell employees into the causes of a major explosion. This took place on 3 June 2014 at the chemical complex of Shell Moerdijk.

Maximum fine

Shell’s annoyance about this eavesdropping operation was expressed on Thursday in the criminal case that the OM has brought against the group. The OM accuses Shell Chemie Nederland of knowingly putting people in danger of life and knowingly breaking the environmental rules. read more

Runar Kjørsvik was the chief safety officer at the Shell Nyhamna Gas facility until he was fired. Bjørn Tore Røshol took over the office. Both struggle with the psychological after-effects of a culture of fear at the facility. Their stories are quite similar. 

English translation of an article published by Stavanger Aftenblad on 11 May 2019.

Shell safety delegates ended up in a psychiatric ward. They tried to clean up Shell. They ended up with psychiatric chaos in their heads.

Foreign Skarsaune: JOURNALIST
Jon Ingemundsen: PHOTOGRAPH UPDATED: PUBLISHED: 11 MAY 2019 07:41

In the corner of the waiting room are two men. The chair between them is empty. It is quiet at the psychiatric outpatient clinic in Molde.

Bjørn Tore Røshol, left, and Runar Kjørsvik is sitting in the waiting room at the district psychiatric center in Molde. Photo: JON INGEMUNDSEN

They go here regularly. That they have hour at the same time this day is random. But that they are here, they think is not random. Both have been the main safety delegate at Shell’s gas facility at Nyhamna outside Molde. Both struggle with psychological after-effects. Their stories are quite similar: read more

Shell says: “we cannot rule out that people may have been exposed without reporting in our reporting system…

English translation of a story published by the Norway TV/Radio news broadcaster NRK

Oil worker Bjørn Tore Røshol fears that at least 100 people may have been exposed to the carcinogenic substance benzene without them even knowing about it.

Rolv Christian Topdahl: @rolvc
Journalist: Published May 11, 2019

For the second time in five years, employees at Nyhamna gas treatment plant are warning about a fear culture and inadequate handling of the carcinogenic gas benzene.

Bjørn Tore Røshol hopes that Shell will take action. PHOTO: ROAR STRØM / NRK

– I am simply worried that colleagues and former employees will become ill because of what they are exposed to, says Bjørn Tore Røshol.

The carcinogenic substance benzene has for many years been a hot topic at Shell’s land plant Nyhamna in Møre og Romsdal. read more

Image from Shell In Nigeria website

MEMORIES OF A RETIRED SHELL NIGERIA EXPAT 

Hello John

Saw your pic with Esther Kiobel on the website. Brought back some old memories.

I cannot find any stuff on this but did you know that a certain *Xxxx Xxxxxxxxxx was working in Port Harcourt when his wife was murdered in the Shell camp in their own bungalow?

Forgot the date, must have been in the early 90s. read more

A Dutch court ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear a damages suit brought against Royal Dutch Shell by four widows of the Ogoni Nine, environmental activists executed by the Nigerian government in 1995.

The four widows accuse Shell of being complicit in a crackdown by the government against peaceful protesters in Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta.

The judges at the Hague District Court said they will allow the suit to go forward, though the claimants must still prove their case against Shell. Shell denies wrongdoing in the case that has gone on for decades. read more

Esther Kiobel and John Donovan, 28 April 2019, days before a Dutch court ruled in favour of Esther and her co-plaintiffs in an action against Shell allowing their case to proceed

By John Donovan

In 1996, Shell used the sinister specialist services of what could be described as an in-house spying resource set up by former MI6 officers, Hakluyt & Company Limited with titled Shell directors acting as the ultimate spymasters.

At that time, Sir William Purves was Chairman of Hakluyt & Company Limited and Sir Peter Holmes, a former Chairman of Shell, was President of the Hakluyt Foundation. Both were also major shareholders in the corporate spy outfit, while also being Shell directors.

Hakluyt was allegedly set up to carry out “deniable” corporate espionage operations.

A German-born secret service agent Manfred Schlickenrieder working undercover for Hakluyt was sent to Nigeria on a mission relating to allegations of environmental damage caused by Shell’s oil drilling in Ogoniland.

Extracts from a related front-page article published by The Sunday Times in 2001 under the headline MI6 ‘Firm’ Spied on Green Groups:

Schlickenrieder sometimes posed as a left-wing sympathizer and documentary filmmaker.

He also tried to dupe Anita Roddick’s Body Shop group to pass on information about its opposition to Shell drilling for oil in a Nigerian tribal land.

His company was a one-man band with a video camera making rarely seen documentaries.

He made a film on Shell in Nigeria called Business as Usual: the Arrogance of Power, during which he interviewed friends of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nobel prize nominee, who was hanged by the military regime in 1995 after leading a campaign against oil exploration. Schlickenrieder sent a letter to a Body Shop executive saying he had been researching the activities of Shell in Nigeria…

Fouad Hamdan, communications director of Greenpeace Germany, said: “The bastard was good, I have to admit. “He got information about our planned Atlantic Frontier campaign…”  He added: “Manfred filmed and interviewed all the time…”

The Sunday Times article is short on dates and information about what Shell’s undercover agent was up to in Nigeria, but it was at a time when litigation was being contemplated against Shell by relatives of Ken Saro Wiwi and Ogoni Nine widows.

Perhaps information about the purpose and timing of his spying mission in Nigeria will be contained in the confidential Shell internal documents the Dutch Court has ordered to be handed over to Esther Kiobel and her co-plaintiffs. Sight of his briefing by Shell/Hakluyt could be very revealing.

Part of the Kiobel & Co Dutch case against Shell relates to alleged Shell bribing of witnesses in the Ogoni Nine trial, which ended with the hanging of all nine individuals, including Ken Saro-Wiwi and the beloved husband of Esther Kiobel, Dr Barinem Kiobel.

Salient extracts from the Wikipedia article “Ogoni Nine”

The executions provoked international condemnation and led to the increasing treatment of Nigeria as a pariah state…

At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony – in the presence of Shell’s lawyer.

Shell’s close association with former MI6 people has continued through the years. They always seem to be lurking in the shadows.

I am in possession of irrefutable evidence that an ex MI6 man Ian Forbes McCredie,  hired by Shell to be head of Shell Global Security, was also part of Hakluyt & Company.

More recently, Ben van Beurden, the current Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell Plc mentioned in a telephone conversation that Shell had hired former MI6 people in connection with the OPL 245 oil deal. He did not know that the conversation was being covertly recorded by OPL 245 investigative authorities.

Two of the defendants in the current OPL 245 criminal $1.3bn  corruption trial against Shell in Italy are indeed former MI6 agents; namely John Copleston and Guy Colegate.

Would someone kindly explain how any of this sinister and unscrupulous activity is compatible with Shell’s claimed core business principles, including honesty, integrity and transparency?

ARTICLE ENDS

Disclosure by the author of this article: The lead claimant Esther Kiobel, her lawyer Channa Samkalden of the Dutch human rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira representing the widows, and the acclaimed human rights organisation Amnesty International, have all acknowledged the involvement of John Donovan in bringing *this case. (*See Writ of Summons in English and Dutch served on Shell 28 June 2017 – copy obtained from US Pacer public electronic court records) As Esther generously said on 28 April 2019, the Dutch case would not have happened without the help of John Donovan.  read more

By John Donovan

According to Wikipedia “The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, also known as (MOSOP), is a mass‐based social movement organization of the indigenous Ogoni people.” Legborsi Saro Pyagbara is named as being the President of Mosop in November 2014.  read more

The four widows claim that the Shell operating company has bribed eight witnesses. Those witnesses are said to have played an important role in the conviction, and thus have the death of their spouses partly on their conscience. Shell has always denied this. So the judge wants more evidence that the eight people have been bribed. “That could be done by hearing witnesses, for example.”

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch FT, Financieele Dagblad.

Carel Grol

Four Nigerian widows who litigate against Shell RDSA € 28.48 + 1.24% must provide tougher evidence. The court in The Hague ruled on that on Wednesday morning.

The Nigerian women Esther Kiobel (m) and Victoria Bera with their lawyer Channa Samkalden for the verdict at the court in The Hague. They are two of the widows who take Shell to court for the executions of their husbands in 1995. Photo: Bart Hoogveld for the FD

The case revolves around the execution of nine men from the Ogoni tribe in 1995. Widows of four of them are going to trial against Shell. The oil company is said to have conspired with the Nigerian state and to be partly responsible for the death of the nine men, the women claim. read more

Barinem was hanged in November 1995. He had spoken out against the enormous pollution of Ogoniland, an area in southeastern Nigeria where Shell won oil. Eight others were hanged with him, including writer Ken Saro Wiwa. They were called the Ogoni 9.

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch FT, Financieele Dagblad.

Nigerian Esther Kiobel (center) and Victoria Bera (right) with their lawyer Channa Samkalden for the verdict at the court in The Hague. Photo: Bart Hoogveld for the FD

Carel Grol

Esther Kiobel is a combative grandmother. And happy, too. In fact, she feels “great” in the wide and high corridor on the second floor of the palace of justice in The Hague.

She has just heard that the Dutch court is handling her case. The trial that she and three other ladies, all widowed, filed against Shell. It is an intermediate step in her search for justice that has been going on for more than two decades and takes place on three continents. read more

Bart H. Meijer: MAY 1, 2019 / 11:12 AM

* Case brought by widows of activists executed in 1995

* Shell ordered to turn over any papers that could help claimants

* Shell denies any liability in “strongest possible terms”

* Large punitive damages award unlikely in Netherlands

By Bart H. Meijer

THE HAGUE, May 1 (Reuters) – A Dutch court said on Wednesday it has jurisdiction to hear a damages suit brought against Royal Dutch Shell by four widows of activists executed by the Nigerian government in 1995.

In a preliminary decision, judges at the Hague District Court said they would allow the suit to go forward, a rare win in a decades-long legal fight, though the claimants must still prove Shell’s liability. Shell denies wrongdoing.

“This procedure will continue,” said presiding judge Larissa Alwin, reading the decision of a three-judge panel. read more