LETTER TO THE COURT SERVICE REGARDING LETTER TO LORD FALCONER, THE LORD CHANCELLOR 17 JUNE 04
17 June 2004 Ms Jane Okas Customer Service Unit 1The Court Service Clive House 70 Petty France London SW1H 9HD 15 PAGES BY FAX TO: 020 7189 2732 Dear Ms Okas MY LETTER TO LORD FALCONER, THE LORD CHANCELLOR Thank you for your letter dated 9 June 2004. I did send further information to Lord Falconer on 7 June which I assume has by now been passed on to you. If not, please let me know. I sent with the correspondence copies of various letters relating to Hakluyt & Company Limited. They included a letter to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and to the INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY COMMITTEE. There have been some other related developments which I would like to bring to your attention. Firstly I have received a response from Buckingham Palace saying that Her Majesty has noted the content of my letter to her, which I assume means that Her Majesty read it. The letter says that I was correct to write to the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Falconer with my concerns. A copy of the letter is attached. Secondly, I have received a response from Mr Christopher James, the former SAS, ex MI6 officer, on behalf of his supposedly private spy firm, Hakluyt & Company Limited. His faxed letter of 8 June 2004 and my response of the same date are also attached. Mr James failed to answer my questions about Mr ****** ****** and Mr Christopher Phillips, the undercover agents involved in the relevant Shell litigation. If his firm was entirely innocent of any involvement his response could have been even briefer that the one he supplied. He could have stated: Neither ****** ****** nor Christopher Phillips has ever had any association/connection with Hakluyt. Furthermore, Hakluyt has never had any involvement in your disputes with Shell. (*Webmasters note: We did hear from the relevant gentleman on 7 July 2004. He accepts that his credentials do point to him being an intelligence agent but denies that this is in fact the case. Four different individuals all gained the same impression from this gentleman about his credentials, which subsequently turned out to be a misrepresentation. The alternative conclusion is that all four individuals, including a solicitor, misunderstood what they were told by Mr *****, which seems extremely unlikely. In any event, it has been deemed appropriate for security reasons to delete his name and other information which might allow him or his family to be identified) All it needed was 26 words. It was an assurance that Mr James felt unable to give. Shell has admitted that it has hired Hakluyt agents. Hakluyt and Shell had common directors and shareholders at the relevant time. I have also attached copies of my most recent exchange with the INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY COMMITTEE. Their letter is dated 9 June 2004 and my response 14 June 2004. As you will see, the Committee is so wrapped up in the intrigue associated with the intelligence services, that their own supervisory function must apparently also remain in the shadows, at least as far as the paying public is concerned. Finally, I have also attached a copy of a letter dated 11 June 2004 received from Mr Bob Russell MP together with his letter on my behalf to Lord Falconer on the same date. As you will see, Mr Russell is of the opinion that I have raised serious issues in regards to Shell. I note that I can expect a reply from the Court Service by 25 June, over a month after my initial letter was sent. In an ideal world Lord Falconer would have telephoned Mr Justice Laddie on a QC to QC basis and had a friendly brief chat which could have cleared up the basic questions. I can imagine the opening conversation: - “Lord Falconer: Hello Hugh, its Charlie here. I’m phoning about Alfred Donovan and the Shell case, I believe you know about him? Sir Huge Laddie: Know him! The man’s obsessed; an absolute raving lunatic. Lord Falconer: Yes, but can you just answer his question: at the time of litigation between Mr Donovan and Shell did you personally know Tom Moody-Stuart, the barrister son of the Group Chairman of Shell, Sir Mark, who along with his wife, Lady Judy Moody-Stuart, were both involved in the litigation?” Please forgive my frivolity. My point is that the matter could have been dealt with in a few minutes if a senior official at your department had telephoned the Judge. I would have an answer at long last after nearly two years of silence from *everyone I have politely contacted, during which period of time the connections between Mr Justice Laddie and Tom Moody-Stuart has become even more evident. (*I wrote to Mr Justice Laddie, Tom Moody-Stuart, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart and Mark-Platts-Mills QC, the Head of Chambers at 8 New Square closely connected with both Mr Justice Laddie and Mr Tom Moody-Stuart. No one would answer my question). Of course we do not live in an ideal world so I will wait for the time being although I am becoming increasingly frustrated, bearing in mind my advanced years. Perhaps that is part of the plot. Unlike Shell whose reputation is disappearing faster than its oil reserves, I do not pretend to follow a policy of transparency, I actually practice openness. Consequently my correspondence including this letter is published on my website shell.2004.com. I also provide, as of today, a free platform for the oppressed and exploited Ogoni people to air their grievances against Shell. The same already applies to disgruntled Shell employees. We have all suffered from the underhand conduct of this rogue multinational. On 7 April 2004, I wrote to the solicitor then representing Shell, Mr Colin Joseph of Kendall Freeman, advising him of my astonishment at discovering the close association between Shell and Hakluyt. I stated in my penultimate paragraph:- “Mr Joseph, we are obviously getting into deep waters. I invite you to disassociate yourself and your firm from Shell if you deem it prudent to do so in view of the information which has now come to light. Unless of course you already knew about the intimate involvement of Shell senior management with the types of shady/illegal undercover activity it repeatedly and categorically denied”. Although Kendall Freeman had been involved in the case for several years, within days they had parted company with Shell on this matter. Consequently I have subsequently dealt directly with my respected adversary, Shell Legal Director, Richard Wiseman, who on my 87th birthday on 22nd April, kindly sent me birthday greetings by email. He is wise enough never to answer my questions about Shell’s association with Hakluyt. A Shell insider supplied me with a copy of a speech made by Shell Chairman Jeroem van der Veer at a recent meeting in Texas of Shell’s top 400 managers to discuss the oil reserves debacle and other reputation related matters. Mr Van der Veer admitted to being “shocked, dismayed and ashamed at what has happened…” He appeared by implication to place blame on one of his predecessors, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, who was at the helm of Shell during its so-called “transformation” process. Mr Van der Veer said: “but did the mid 90s transformation bring the desirable behaviours? Or did it erode professionalism, corporate cohesion, ‘Enterprise first’ thinking and loyalty?” Mr Van der Veer also talked about “honesty, integrity, respect for people” - the normal PR formula which Shell management preaches, but self-evidently does not practice. If any of this is inaccurate no doubt Shell will advise me accordingly. My family put everything on the fundamental right to a fair trial. Because of Shell’s underhand behaviour, using intimidatory tactics and undercover agents, the credibility and integrity of the trial was completely undermined. Yours sincerely Alfred Donovan Encl: 1. Letter dated 14 June 04 from Buckingham Palace on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (one page) 2. Faxed letter of 8 June 2004 received from Hakluyt and Company Limited and my response of the same day (3 pages in total) 3. Letter from the INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY COMMITTEE dated 9 June 2004 and my response of 14 June. (5 pages in total) 4. Letter from Mr Bob Russell MP dated 11 June plus his letter on my behalf to Lord Falconer of the same date. (2 pages) Cc Mr Jeroem van der Veer, Chairman Committee of Managing Directors Mr Malcolm Brinded, Group Managing Director, Royal Dutch Shell Group Mr Richard Wiseman, General Counsel, Shell International LimitedClick here for ShellNews.net HOME PAGE