By Ikechukwu Nnochiri: JAN 21, 2020

The Federal Government, on Monday, slammed a fresh 42-count charge against the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, SAN, over alleged fraud in the $1.1billon Malabu oil deal.

Adoke, who served as AGF under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, was arrested upon his return to the country from Dubai, United Arab Emirate, on December 19, 2019.

He went on self-exile shortly after ex-President Jonathan lost his re-election bid in 2015, but was arrested and detained in Dubai by the INTERPOL on November 11. read more

By John Donovan

Postings and messages I have read or received in the last 48 hours lead me to the conclusion that bullying understaffed Shell Energy customer service is driving some of its locked-in customers to illness and despair.

Some staff must be uncomfortable having to treat vulnerable customers so shabbily and ruthlessly. How will they feel if someone does resort to suicide, as has been threatened?

There are so many disturbing customer postings on Trustpilot and other review sites about Shell Energy that there may be enough potential claimants to warrant a class-action lawsuit? read more

By Karin Goodwin Reporter: 19 Jan 2020

A GROUNDBREAKING legal case being taken against oil company Shell could have dramatic consequences for the Dutch company’s Scottish North Sea operations, it has been claimed by environmental organisations.

The legal action, being led by Friends of the Earth (FOE) Netherlands on behalf of more than 30,000 people from 70 countries, aims to compel the company to “cease its destruction of the climate”.

Plaintiffs in the case argue that Shell is violating its duty of care and threatening human rights by knowingly undermining the world’s chances to stay below 1.5C, the level agreed to be critical by the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. read more

Extracts from an article by Stephen Delahunty published 15 January 2020

Newly released files under the UK’s declassification rules reveal that John Major’s Conservative Government rejected Mandela’s personal appeal to impose oil sanctions on Nigeria as it wanted to protect Shell and the UK’s wider commercial interests.

In 1995, Nigeria’s military regime executed nine environmental activists who had led a non-violent protest against pollution by Anglo-Dutch company Shell and other energy firms in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The so-called ‘Ogoni 9’ were executed on 10 November 1995, following a military tribunal that was internationally condemned – particularly by South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela.

Newly released files under the UK’s declassification rules reveal that John Major’s Conservative Government rejected Mandela’s personal appeal to impose oil sanctions on Nigeria as it wanted to protect Shell and the UK’s wider commercial interests. read more

English translation of an article published 14 Jan 2020 by ncr.nl the Dutch news media giant

Former CEO Shell in Nigeria may have benefited from the purchase of a mega-oil field

• Merijn Rengers
• Carola Houtekamer
• 14Jan 2020

The Italian prosecutor suspects that the former chief executive of Shell in Nigeria has benefited from the controversial purchase of the mega-oil field OPL 245 off the Nigerian coast. This is Sunmonu Mutiu, who led the Nigerian division of the Anglo-Dutch oil company. He was also a director of a software company that received 5 million dollars for unclear reasons a few years after the OPL deal. They would come from Nigerian former minister Dan Etete, owner of the oil field and the main suspect in the bribery case where more than 1 billion euros in bribes would have been paid. The possible self-enrichment by a senior Shell manager is in a request for legal assistance that Italian prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale recently sent to the US. He leads the Italian investigation into possible bribery by Shell and the Italian oil company Eni. Shell does not want to respond because it is still studying the ‘new documents’. (NRC) read more

English translation of an article published by the Dutch news media giant nrc.nl 

A suitcase full of secrets about oil, sex and bribery by Shell

• Merijn Rengers
• Carola Houtekamer
• 13 Jan 2020

Shell in Nigeria A dubious game took place around Africa’s most coveted oil field. New, secret documents from a confiscated suitcase tell how Shell tried to avoid reputational damage.

Former oil minister Dan Etete (r) was the owner of the oil field, but also infected after a conviction for money laundering. Photo Gindl Barbara / AFP

What’s the news?

The Italian prosecutor suspects that the former chief executive of Shell in Nigeria has benefited from the controversial purchase by Shell of the mega-oil field OPL 245 off the Nigerian coast. This is Sunmonu Mutiu, who led the Nigerian division of the Anglo-Dutch oil company. read more

Bloomberg Law: Jan. 13, 2020, 4:58 PM

The commodities traders who unsuccessfully alleged North Sea crude oil market rigging by BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, and other top energy companies signaled they’ll likely take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The traders have until March 13 to file their high court petition, according to papers filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which rejected their claimsin August and their rehearing bid in October.

The lawsuit accused the companies of manipulating the Dated Brent Assessment, a daily index that affects overseas prices for North Sea crude oil, also called… read more

Extracts from NIGERIA Africa Energy Intelligence article dated 07/01/2020

As an Italian court continues its probe into the award of Nigeria’s most promising offshore block, all those involved in the deal at Shell are no longer with the major.

These include the head of upstream at the time Malcolm Brinded, former general counsel Keith Ruddock and legal advisor for Africa Guus Klusener.

Shell’s political advisor and ex-MI6 John Copleston, who met with Etete on several occasions to discuss the OPL 245 deal in 2010, has left…

Another former MI6 agent, Guy Colegate, who had advised Shell during the OPL 245 talks from Nigeria, left to work for Heritage Oil in 2013… read more

January 6, 2020 – SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, co-leading a coalition of 13 states, filed an amicus brief supporting the State of Rhode Island in its lawsuit State of Rhode Island v. Shell Oil Products Company LLC et al. In the lawsuit, the state seeks to hold oil companies accountable for their actions contributing to climate change and the resulting harms from sea-level rise, changes to the hydrologic cycle, and increased air and ocean temperatures. read more

LATEST OPL 245 NEWS JANUARY 4, 2020

“Shell and Agip again went into a fraudulent agreement with Malabu Oil and Gas, in which the companies will pay a signature bonus of $210m to the Federal Government of Nigeria, while $1.2b would be paid to the owners of Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd. “Shell Petroleum was later to explain that the payment was for compensation, but an investigation conducted revealed that the money was a bribe to Dan Etete and his cronies.”

ARTICLE

What actually happened to the $1.2billion allegedly paid by Shell and Agip into Federal Government’s Escrow Account with JP Morgan Chase bank sometime in 2011 in relation to the execution of a supposed settlement agreement in respect of the controversial OPL 245 held by Malabu Oil and Gas? Was it a bribe or compensation? The truth could only be known at the conclusion of the charges now pending against former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke and others. ERIC IKHILAE reports.

Had President Muhammadu Buhari accepted the suggestion by his Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, on how he thought was the best way to permanently rest the seeming undying scandal that the Malabu Oil and Gas Limited’s Oil Mining Lease (OML) 254 has become, his (Malami’s) immediate predecessor’s return on December 19, 2019 would have been less dramatic and controversial.

Malami had, in a legal opinion dated September 27, 2017 told the President, among others, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was on a wild goose chase in proposing to prosecute his immediate predecessor, Mohamed Adoke for the last administration’s dealing in relation to what has grown to become the Malabu oil deal scandal. read more

The former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN),

In Milan, two middlemen were convicted and some former and current Shell and Eni officials are also on trial. “The value of the oil block was put at about $3.5 billion but through underhand deals, Nigeria only got about $209million

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja: Dec 23, 2019

There were indications on Sunday that the bank accounts of former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke are being screened by operatives probing his suspected involvement in the $1.06 billion Malabu Oil Block (OPL 245) deal.

The former minister, who has been in custody since last Thursday when he returned to the country from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has opted to pass data and documents relating to the deal to investigators, it was gathered. read more

Regarded as one of the biggest corporate corruption scandals in history, the Malabu oil scandal involved the transfer of about $1.1bn by oil giants Shell and Eni through the Federal Government to accounts controlled by a former Minister of Petroleum, Mr Dan Etete. Shell and Eni were said to have given the bribes in a bid for OPL 245, one of Nigeria’s richest oil blocks. The oil block’s reserves were estimated to be 9.23 billion barrels of crude oil.

Jesusegun Alagbe and Alexander Okere: Published Dec 21, 2019

Italian prosecutors have been asked to produce a Nigerian ‘super witness’ who is a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Isaac Eke, in the ongoing probe of the $1.1bn Malabu oil scandal.

The Palace of Justice in Milan, Italy, during the week told prosecutors to make the key witness appear before it by January 29, 2020, to testify in the trial.

Turning down recorded testimony of the witness and all forms of examination via video conferencing, the court said unlike before when it allowed Nigerian witnesses testify via video conferencing, the ex-police chief must be physically present to testify at the ultimatum. read more

In a formal reply in November, Shell denied it was liable. A month earlier the company’s CEO said it had “no choice” but to invest in oil and claimed it was “entirely legitimate” to do so.

Court rules Dutch government has duty to protect citizens’ rights in face of climate change

Extracts from an article by Isabella Kaminski in The Hague: Fri 20 Dec 2019 13.08 GMT

The Netherlands’ supreme court has upheld a ruling ordering the country’s government to do much more to cut carbon emissions, after a six-year fight for climate justice.

The non-profit Urgenda Foundation, which brought the case, welcomed the “groundbreaking” judgment.

As well as inspiring cases against other national governments, Urgenda’s success has encouraged campaigners to take up legal arms against corporations. In April a group of social and environmental justice groups led by Friends of the Earth Netherlands began the process of suing the oil firm Shell, arguing that its business model threatens international climate goals and endangers human rights. read more

by Reuters: Thursday, 19 December 2019 22:35 GMTABUJA, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s former attorney general was detained by the country’s financial crimes agency upon his return home on Thursday, the commission said in a statement, as part of an investigation into one of the oil industry’s biggest suspected corruption scandals.

Mohammed Adoke was arrested by Interpol in November after travelling to Dubai for a medical appointment. He voluntarily flew back to the West African country on Thursday, his lawyer said.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigation relates to the $1.3 billion sale of a Nigerian offshore oilfield known as OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011.

Eni SpA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc jointly acquired the field from Malabu, which was owned by former petroleum minister Dan Etete. read more

Ship captain jailed 5.5 years for role in largest gas oil theft from Shell’s Pulau Bukom refinery

By LOUISA TANG:19 Dec 2019

SINGAPORE — A ship captain who profited from receiving about US$5.7 million (S$7.7 million) worth of stolen marine gas oil was sentenced to five-and-a-half years’ jail on Thursday (Dec 19).

Doan Xuan Than is the second person to be dealt with in relation to a multi-million dollar fuel heist from Shell Eastern Petroleum’s Pulau Bukom refinery, which prosecutors said was misappropriation on an “unprecedented scale”.

Eleven former Shell employees and several others have been charged over the case. read more

UK court ruling knocks back Rivers govt’s bid to acquire Shell’s oil asset in Ogoniland

December 8, 2019: Bassey Udo

Last Thursday’s ruling of a UK high court rejecting a request by the Ejama-Ebubu community in Tai Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State has put a wedge in the attempt by the Rivers State government to acquire a stake in a disputed mining lease in Ogoniland.

The lease located in the oil mining concession OML 11 is operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). It has been the subject of prolonged litigation by the community and Shell.

The community had accused the Dutch firm of responsibility for a massive 1969/70 oil spill allegedly from a ruptured oil pipeline in its facility. read more