AN OPEN LETTER TO HUMANS RIGHTS WATCH from ShellNews.net: Multinational power vs. individual human rights: The persecution by Royal Dutch Shell of a whistleblower, Dr John Huong:  December 2005

A letter from ShellNews.net co-owner, Alfred Donovan:

I would respectfully like to draw to the attention of the Human Rights Watch Organisation the plight of an extremely courageous 48 year old Malaysian humanitarian, Dr John Huong, a former Shell geologist of almost 30 years standing. Dr Huong has been the subject of inhuman and entirely inappropriate intimidation and oppression in clear breach of his fundamental human rights.

This is not a case of one awkward employee falling out with his employer. Several HUNDRED of Dr Huong’s former colleagues have also fallen out with Shell and are currently engaged in litigation with Shell. Please read “Annex A” for more details. Basically Shell is deliberately and cold-heartedly withholding pension payments which honest, hard-working former employees were counting on for their retirement. This is absolutely inexcusable behaviour which can only be described as wicked.

Dr Huong stands out from the other cases because he is the victim of the most extreme actions by a Shell senior management already tainted by the reserves fraud which has made global headlines ever since news of the scandal first broke in January 2004.

Dr Huong is a deeply religious man and a humanitarian. In the latter connection, I draw attention to the content of “Annex B”. It provides evidence of the positive response given by Dr Huong in 2003 to a plea for help from Dr. Roger Peebles, President of the International Association for Environmental Hydrology in regards to a water project in Iraq.

So how is it possible that this decent man is the subject of draconian legal proceedings collectively brought by no less than EIGHT Shell companies within the Royal Dutch Shell Group, one based in the UK, one in Holland and six in the Far East?

One of the factors involved is that Dr Huong insisted on working within Shell’s own ethical code known as its Statement of General Business Principles pledging honesty, integrity and openness in all of Shell’s dealings. That did not suit an already discredited Shell management which has wasted BILLIONS in fines, settlements. legal fees and cost overruns arising from management misdeeds and incompetence. I refer to the recent reserves fraud and the huge cost overrun on the Sakhalin II project in Russia. A recent related letter to the European Bank for Development and Reconstruction is accessible here: READ (It contains further important information relating to Dr Huong.)

Dr Huong felt compelled to raise health and safety issues internally in respect of duties assigned to him. This turned out to be a turning point in his long and previously enjoyable career with Shell. Raising such concerns brought him nothing but grief. Basically Shell management's attitude towards him changed overnight. After he was humiliated and dismissed on false charges, Dr John Huong chose ShellNews.net as the public platform for his revelations about Shell management’s blatant disregard for health and safety issues.

Dr Huong speaks English fluently but required assistance in translation of his written drafts into a form suitable for publication on my website. Shell is aware of this fact. It also knows that my input made me more than just a co-author; that I owned the website not Dr Huong; that I published the articles which resulted in the defamation proceedings, not Dr Huong and that he has no control over a single word published on the website. Yet Shell insists on suing him not me. Shell has made some rather staggering statements about my postings on the website (which includes the postings attributed towards Dr Huong). It a statement to the World Intellectual Property Organisation in May 2005 Shell International stated as follows: -

"The... Group... have been aware of the site since the beginning and whilst they would not endorse or agree with many of the comments made by the Respondent on the website, they have taken the view that the Respondent is entitled to express his opinions and to use the Internet as a medium for doing so."

Why is it that I am entitled to express my opinions about Shell but Dr Huong is not...

In an email dated 11 November 2005, Shell International General Counsel Richard Wiseman made the following comment about the website: "The extraordinary tolerance shown to your internet activities ought to demonstrate better than anything else the fact that we are uninterested in, and unmoved by, your current activities." 

Shell says that it is prepared to tolerate my "internet activities" - since that includes the posting of the alleged defamatory

I can only guess at the reason for the complete contrast in Shell's attitude towards me concerning information posted on my site by me, compared with its attitude towards Dr Huong for information also posted on my site by me, but under his name. I am a white European. Dr Huong is not. Could that be the answer? There is other information which suggests that Shell may be adopting racist policies. I refer to its more favourable disposition to claims and disputes involving American and European employees, compared with its cold-blooded attitude to Malaysian employees. 

In response the above collective issued a Writ in June 2004 in the High Court of Malaya against Dr Huong. The group also obtained a Restraining Order to prevent Dr Huong from exercising his basic rights to freedom of opinion and expression. The initial court papers served on him ran to almost 50 pages in length. Since then Shell lawyers have threatened with imprisonment. This is not an idle threat as Shell had had environmental protesters – know as the “Rossport Five” - jailed in Ireland earlier this year.

They cited among other comments made under Dr Huong’s name a description of Shell management as being “deceitful bunglers”. I have to say that many Shell shareholders would consider this analysis to be entirely apt and correct.

In this connection, I would draw attention to ANNEX X which contains news headlines concerning the Shell reserves scandal which was a factor in igniting the high oil prices currently threatening the world economy. The new Chairman of the US Securities & Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox, has recently branded the reserves debacle as being a fraud on a par with the Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing scandals (FT article 7 October 2005).

The Court Order also compelled Dr Huong, at the risk of contempt of Court, to cease publication on the Internet of related extracts from the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That, must surely be a cause for concern. The Royal Dutch Shell Group self-evidently has no regard for the Declaration.

This has all come about because Dr Huong has insisted on telling the truth about his experiences as a Shell geologist. He did this because he has a social conscience and a genuine regard for all of us, his fellow citizens, who share the planet with him and his family.

The comments attributed to Dr Huong, now prohibited by an Injunction, also raised the subject of Shell’s horrendous record of pollution and the environmental degradation in Nigeria.

While still in Shell’s employment, Dr Huong was outspoken when Shell engaged in activities which he considered directly at variance with Shell’s own code of ethics, the Statement of General Business Principles, which pledge honesty, openness and integrity in all of Shell dealings.

Because of his scruples Dr Huong has been victimised by Shell. He was discharged in dubious circumstances following a Shell “Domestic Inquiry” in which he had no legal representation and where his accusers were also in effect the Judge and jury. The hearing dragged on for what must be a record breaking 10 non-consecutive days of trauma and humiliation for Dr Huong. If Shell had been interested in a fair hearing, they would not have manipulated and suppressed witnesses as Dr Huong steadfastly claims. He apparently has credible evidence to support this claim. Shell’s “Domestic Inquiry” can fairly be characterised as a “kangaroo court”, defined as a trial in which the rights of the accused and precepts of justice are ignored, with the outcome conveniently decided beforehand.

Dr Huong was naturally upset and bitter at parting company with Shell on such a degrading and patently unfair basis after nearly 3 decades. He understandably felt that he had suffered a monumental injustice at the hands of Shell management.

Dr Huong wrote to Shell management to try to obtain redress but was rebuffed or simply ignored. He even sent a letter on a “without prejudice” basis suggesting a constructive dialogue to try to resolve matters amicably. This too was ignored even though he sent copies to Shell Group Chairman, Jeroem van der Veer and Group MD, Mr Malcolm Brinded. What a way to treat someone who had been employed by Shell for nearly 30 years. This contrasts with the $1.8 million dollar payoff to former Shell Group Chairman, Sir Philip Watts, after his recent forced departure.

I have noted from Shell’s correspondence that Shell lawyers discourteously ignored Dr Huongs request to address him by the professional qualification he earned by dedicated hard work and study - the “Dr” prefix to his name. That alone provides an indication of the degree of malice involved.

Shell took no action against Dr Huong until he spilled the beans about Shell’s unethical behaviour on my website Shell2004.com (the leading independent source of information and news focused on the Royal Dutch Shell Group). His “whistleblower” comments about Shell’s overstatement of reserves were sprinkled throughout the Dr Huong postings.

This may be the real reason behind Shell’s action in silencing him in such a spectacular and unprecedented fashion (bearing in mind the flood of US class action law suits and investigations by regulatory authorities in several Countries). In this connection, Dr Huongs testimony was being actively sought by a firm of New York Attorneys on behalf of the lead plaintiff in the largest law suit, the Pennsylvania State Pension Fund. This may also have been factored into Shell’s draconian move against Dr Huong.

As briefly mentioned previously, Dr Huong also made justified comments about the pollution caused by Shell’s activities - also directly in relation to the exploitation of the Nigerian people and Nigeria’s natural resources. I recognise that Shell has been faced with immense operational difficulties in Nigeria, but it self-evidently has not abided by its own ethical code which supposedly includes respect for people – presumably all people.

As I have recently stated in a paper presented at a convention in Lincoln Nebraska on 26 June 2004, how can it be right for the Ogoni people – a population of some 800,000 souls, to sit on top of oil reserves which for decades have been steadily drained by Shell (and other companies) while remaining poor and living in a polluted demoralising environment, while the disgraced former Group Chairman of Shell, Sir Philip Watts – a single individual, sits on top of a $18 million pension pot. It is more than indefensible. It is obscene.

I have not chosen to target Sir Philip at random. He, like his predecessor, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, used high management positions in Shell’s Nigerian business to further their respective climbs to the pinnacle of power at Shell. They achieved their common objectives by collaborating with the then corrupt Nigerian regimes at the expense of the Nigerian population.

The following are extracts from an article published on 4 April 2004 by the UK newspaper, “The Mail on Sunday”.

FORMER Shell chairman Sir Philip Watts helped to organise and pay for a virtual private army in the oil rich deltas of Nigeria, according to legal documents seen by the Financial Mail on Sunday.

American lawyers representing 50,000 Ogoni people, including the family of executed activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, are due to question Watts in London this month as part of a class action started in the US in September 2002. The lawsuit claims that Shell 'engaged in militarised commerce in a conspiracy with the former military government of Nigeria.' Watts ran the oil giant's Nigerian SDPC subsidiary between 1991 and 1994.

The action alleges that the Ogonis suffered human rights abuses at the hands of the Nigerian government. Hundreds of people died and thousands more were evicted from their homes in a bloody campaign. Letters bearing Watts' signature have him ordering what are called 'spy police,' some to be equipped with semi-automatic weapons and wearing Shell insignia on their uniforms to identify them as 'supernumaries' under the oil company's banner.

To its credit, Shell recently admitted that its activities have indeed fed the violence and conflict in Nigeria.

Because of language difficulties I assisted Dr Huong in the drafting of his copy posted on the website so I got to know him fairly well. He is a deeply religious man, which perhaps accounts for his social conscience.

I must make it clear for the record that I have no authority or brief to speak for Dr Huong. I am doing so because I passionately believe that he should be supported in his struggle to stand by his moral convictions despite the overwhelming pressure being applied by a ruthless and ethically flawed multinational giant.

Shell has stated in the court papers its concern about damage caused to its reputation by the alleged defamatory comments of Dr Huong, including the comment that Shell is “Evil”. However I can conclusively prove that this and similar descriptions of Shell have been published on the Internet and elsewhere for years. I have myself been responsible for a considerable volume of strong but justified comments about Shell and I have the evidence. Comments made by me and other parties were already in the public domain. So why has Shell picked on Dr Huong?

One example: a leaflet distributed outside Shell’s London HQ buildings in 1999 entitled “RETURN OF THE ROBBER BARONS” (also posted on the Internet) described Shell as being “evil and immoral”. Shell did nothing because they knew I had proof to back up my comments, including the independently verified results of Shell UK retailer surveys (which I will shortly be reposting on the net).

The other important point to make is that Shell’s reputation has been torn to pieces in the media by the reserves debacle and by related headlines which have been disastrously bad for Shell’s image. Admissions made by Shell management have also adversely impacted on Shell’s reputation.

It is difficult to know how it would be possible to inflict any further damage. The Shell corporate image is already well and truly shattered.

Just consider the indictment list below: -

Class action lawsuits against Shell in respect of the reserves debacle; another in relation to Shell's admitted serious misconduct in Nigeria; at least one in relation to tainted Shell gasoline sold in several US states; a lawsuit recently reinstated by the US Federal Appeals Court accusing Shell Oil Co. of operating a price-fixing conspiracy with a supposed competitor. Then we have the pollution based law suits in Texas, relating to Shell’s operations in Port Arthur, in the Philippino capital Manila, and in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Shell stands accused of contaminating drinking water and causing very serious health problems, including cancers, infertility and respiratory diseases. Today there has been news of a Federal investigation into possible anti-trust violations in the US and the threat of a further cut by Standard & Poor of Shell’s already reduced credit rating.
 

SHELL REPUTATION

Dr Huong was fortunate in one regard. The Sunday Observer published on 4 July 2004 (just days after Shell issued its Defamation Writ) an article featuring a company reputation assessment carried out by Thomson Intermedia, which monitors every UK national newspaper on a daily basis. It produces a report indicating the top ten brands/companies with the highest reputation and at the other extreme the 10 “Worst”. No prizes for guessing Shell’s ranking; the Worst of the Worst. So Dr Huong has concrete evidence of a snapshot independent assessment of Shell’s reputation at the precise time the litigation commenced. “Appendix A” attached contains just a brief selection of the global news headlines which contributed to Shell being assessed as the “Worst of the Worst”.

Personally, I think it is evil under all of the circumstances that eight Shell companies within the Royal Dutch Shell Group have joined together to sue one honest, decent man, thereby inflicting further stress and pain on top of his unfair dismissal. Shell must surely have realised that the charge of evil intent might be levelled at them, yet they still took draconian action.

Such is the strength of his social conscience and his interest in free speech that Dr Huong posted extracts from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights onto his section of my website. The extracts shown as “Appendix B” attached, consisted of Articles 1, 5, 12, 19 and 23 dealing with freedom of opinion and expression, the acknowledgement that all human beings are endowed with a conscience and are also entitled to just and favourable conditions of work. Shell was obviously not over-impressed with the above articles otherwise they would not have gone to such extreme lengths to silence a courageous man.

He desperately needs moral support. It is with that objective in mind that I have taken the liberty of contacting your organisation.

Yours sincerely,
Alfred Donovan

APPENDIX A

Groups of former Shell employees in Malaysia have found it necessary to sue the Shell Sarawak and Sabah Retirement Benefit Fund in relation to the unlawful deduction of money from their pension funds. The purpose of the funds was supposedly to provide adequate financial provision for the relevant employees on their retirement and a measure of financial security for their dependents. A Judge in the High Court of Miri ruled in favour of one such group of 399 former Shell employees known as "Team A": he decided that deductions made by Shell from the pension fund were “UNLAWFUL”.
 
The following are quotes from a related article in the “New Straits Times” under the headline: “Ageing and sickly, ex-Shell staff wait on court”: - “Some have died. Others are losing their memory and many are ailing.”: “399 former employees of Sarawak Shell Bhd and Sabah Shell Petroleum Co Ltd engaged in a protracted legal battle with their ex-employers…” “claiming that they unlawfully deducted money from their internal retirement funds…”: “They won their case at the Miri High Court on Sept 20 but their employers filed an appeal.”: “For now, all they can do is hope their time doesn't run out.” 

The relevant litigation continues...

ANNEX B

EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE

An Appeal from Dr Roger Peebles, President of the International Association for Environmental Hydrology

"A helping hand": HydroForum - Groundwater, Water Resources, Hydrology
rpeebles Apr-18-03, 05:23 PM (GMT)
"A helping hand"
LAST EDITED ON Apr-18-03 AT 06:44 PM (GMT)

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to our new forum - Iraq water resources. We are assembling a database of experts in water resources in Iraq and the southwest Asia region to lend assistance in development of sustainable water supplies for the people of Iraq.

Please post your name and qualifications in this forum. We are also interested in your availability, and your remuneration requirements. And don't forget your contact information, including email.

To post, click on the "Iraq water resources" link above, then click "post", and leave your information.

Thanks in advance!

Dr. Roger Peebles
President, IAEH

RESPONSE FROM DR JOHN HUONG

Dr. John Huong Yiu Tuong Jul-11-03, 02:43 AM (GMT)
7. "RE: A helping hand"
I have hand on experience for nearly 30 years with the exploration and production of oil and gas. As geologist I specialised in Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, Reservoir Geology, Production and Operational Geology with emphasis on Field Work on data acquisition and Drilling in a technical team-based environment.

My academics were in Business Administration with specialisation in Marketing, Education and Human Resource Development.

The experiences I have in finding and producing oil and gas will be useful to help Iraq in need of locating and managing water resource through the use of mapping geologic succession using high-resolution satellite pictures (Evolution of the Baram Delta since the last 5,000 years, Malaysia) and other geological tools and/or techniques. That document is used to manage fresh water resources entrapped in fossilizing peat swamps environments and as Sedimentlogist I can help to model depositional environments, past and present to finding and producing water from reservoirs described within the various palaeo-environments.

It is my love as a social worker to contribute to the need and well being of others including my Iraqi friends.

Thank you.

Dr. John Huong Yiu Tuong
P.O.Box 339
98107, Lutong.
Sarawak, Malaysia

Email: johnhu@tm.net.my


http://www.hydroforum.com/dcforum/DCForumID13/1.html#7

APPENDIX C

SELECTION OF SHELL2004.com NEWS HEADLINES ABOUT SHELL

Stanley Bernstein of Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz LLP, the lead US plaintiff lawyers bringing a class action case against Shell (for Pennsylvanian State Retirement Funds) described the scandal on the BBC TV “Money Programme” in the following terms: "There are a lot of investors and many maybe more investors that were affected by this fraud than any other fraud in history".


10 Jan 04: The Times: How Shell Blew a Hole in a 100-year reputation

10 Jan 04: The Independent: Reserves shock wipes £8bn from value of oil giant Shell

19 Feb 04: Los Angeles Times: SEC Launches Formal Probe of Shell Oil

20 April 04: Minneapolis Star Tribune: Dutch/Shell Group exec was 'sick and tired' of lying

20 April 04: The Independent: Lies, cover-ups, fat cats and an oil giant in crisis

6 June 04: Mail on Sunday: Chairman Jeroen van der Veer in frame over Shell scandal – could lead to 20 years in jail

11 June 04: CNN.com: Shell admits blame in Nigeria: "Royal Dutch/Shell has taken responsibility for contributing to the fighting and corruption in oil-rich Nigeria".

25 June 04: London Evening Standard: Shamed “Shell chairman Sir Philip Watts has secured a pay-off worth more than £1m in cash plus stock options potentially worth £6m more”

25 June 04: London Evening Standard: Shell 'has lied for 10 years'

26 June 04: ChannelNewsAsia: Shell hit by new lawsuit in US over reserves scandal: “fresh lawsuit names 27 directors and officers of Royal Dutch/Shell, and also their accounting and audit firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers International and KPMG International”

4 July 04: The Observer: Bad publicity - not goodbye, but good buy: “Shell illustrates how a steady barrage of negative publicity can bring a company to its knees”: “The company's reputation is now in tatters”

5 July 04: New Zealand Herald: Shell takes profit hit: “profits being exaggerated”: "inappropriate accounting”: “profits being embellished”

ANNEX B

EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE

An Appeal from Dr Roger Peebles, President of the International Association for Environmental Hydrology

"A helping hand": HydroForum - Groundwater, Water Resources, Hydrology
rpeebles Apr-18-03, 05:23 PM (GMT)
"A helping hand"
LAST EDITED ON Apr-18-03 AT 06:44 PM (GMT)

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to our new forum - Iraq water resources. We are assembling a database of experts in water resources in Iraq and the southwest Asia region to lend assistance in development of sustainable water supplies for the people of Iraq.

Please post your name and qualifications in this forum. We are also interested in your availability, and your remuneration requirements. And don't forget your contact information, including email.

To post, click on the "Iraq water resources" link above, then click "post", and leave your information.

Thanks in advance!

Dr. Roger Peebles
President, IAEH

RESPONSE FROM DR JOHN HUONG

Dr. John Huong Yiu Tuong Jul-11-03, 02:43 AM (GMT)
7. "RE: A helping hand"
I have hand on experience for nearly 30 years with the exploration and production of oil and gas. As geologist I specialised in Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, Reservoir Geology, Production and Operational Geology with emphasis on Field Work on data acquisition and Drilling in a technical team-based environment.

My academics were in Business Administration with specialisation in Marketing, Education and Human Resource Development.

The experiences I have in finding and producing oil and gas will be useful to help Iraq in need of locating and managing water resource through the use of mapping geologic succession using high-resolution satellite pictures (Evolution of the Baram Delta since the last 5,000 years, Malaysia) and other geological tools and/or techniques. That document is used to manage fresh water resources entrapped in fossilizing peat swamps environments and as Sedimentlogist I can help to model depositional environments, past and present to finding and producing water from reservoirs described within the various palaeo-environments.

It is my love as a social worker to contribute to the need and well being of others including my Iraqi friends.

Thank you.

Dr. John Huong Yiu Tuong
P.O.Box 339
98107, Lutong.
Sarawak, Malaysia

Email: johnhu@tm.net.my


http://www.hydroforum.com/dcforum/DCForumID13/1.html#7

APPENDIX C

EXTRACTS FROM UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

“Some relevant extracts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (United Nations) (http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html)

Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 23.
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”

Shell has tried to stifle whistleblower activity. Eight Royal Dutch Shell companies collectively obtained a High Court Injunction and Restraining Order against one of our sources, Dr John Huong, for alleged defamation in respect of information posted on our website. Dr Huong was a Shell geologist and worked for Shell in Malaysia for 29 years. He made himself unpopular by sticking to Shell’s code of ethics requiring honesty, integrity and openness in all of its dealings.

He was eventually sacked after objecting to the way in which Shell deliberately hid from its own shareholders the true information about hydrocarbon reserves. He is suing Shell for wrongful dismissal and spent a number of days in court on that matter last week. Further hearings about the defamation action are scheduled for 2nd & 6th December.