ShellNews.net: A Black Eye for Royal Dutch Shell Chairman Lord Oxburgh in relation to Shell fraud allegations: Tuesday 16 August 2005 03.50 ET
A Black Eye for Royal Dutch Shell Chairman Lord Oxburgh in relation to Shell fraud allegations
By John Donovan
Shareholders and journalists who attended the AGM’s of Shell Transport and Trading Company plc in 2004 and 2005 witnessed the hostile exchanges between Shell Transport Chairman Lord Oxburgh and an outspoken, thoroughly disgruntled shareholder, Mr John Farmer.
During the particularly tumultuous 2004 AGM Mr John Farmer publicly branded Sir Philip Watts as a “crook” - a comment which caught the attention of the news media. (links below)
This year during the unification AGM Mr Farmer indelicately raised the subject of fraud by Shell management in relation to the reserves scandal. A flustered Lord Oxburgh testily replied that there was not any suggestion of fraud on the part of any director. He obviously does not read the newspapers or watch TV. (Links below)
Further confirmation that the allegations have substance comes from Federal Judge, John Bissell. He wrote in a ruling issued last week that based on evidence presented in a US class action lawsuit: “The allegations were "adequately" made that the oil company "engaged in material and substantial fraudulent conduct in the United States..."
Lord Oxburgh dismissed out-of-hand any suggestion of fraud in answer to Mr Farmer's question at the AGM held on 28 June 2005. It is therefore important to note that the following extracts come from the BBC TV "Money Programme" broadcast almost a year earlier on 15 July 2004 (transcript accessible below). This was but one of countless reports focused on the reserves scandal.
BBC MONEY PROGRAMME EXTRACTS
Comments about Shell boss Jeroen van der Veer:
"signed
statements declaring that the submission known as a 20F was a true and faithful
description of Shell’s reserves”; “He signed false financial statements”; “he
signed certifications that the financial statements met with SEC guidelines.”
Comments about the Royal Dutch Shell Committee of Managing Directors (the CMD):
“And what about the Committee of Managing Directors? They too had received a
much stronger warning about fooling the market. Jeroem van der Veer and the rest
of the CMD still took no action.”
DESCRIPTIONS USED ABOUT THE CONDUCT OF SHELL MANAGEMENT: “deceit”; “false
pretences”; “falsely exaggerating”; “misled the world”; “basically they had been
told a lie”; “embellished on the numbers”; “exaggerated the numbers”; “basically
we lied to you”; “cover it up”; “doctoring the books”; “inventing numbers”;
“certifying the reserve which he knows doesn’t exist”; “reserves replacement and
production growth were inflated”; “I am becoming sick and tired of lying about
the extent of our reserves”; “cover-up”; “actually destroyed documents”; “the
scandal blew up and the company’s reputation carefully nurtured over a century
was destroyed”; “Shell has lied intentionally and deceived the public” ; “now
they know that Shell lied to them and cost them money”; “a fraud perpetrated
over a long period of time”; “a fraud perpetrated by the very heads of the
company”.
There was none of the usual caveats which precede statements or comments which
would otherwise be labelled as libellous: e.g. “allegedly”. The above
descriptions were applied without any such qualification. They were put on
record as statements of FACT.
Bearing all of the above in mind, plus the fact that the US Class Action Lawsuit alleging fraud had been launched long before the AGM, the conclusion must be that Lord Oxburgh either lives in cloud cuckoo land ,or that he was being "economical with the information" - a term he used at the 2004 AGM to describe the actions of those Shell Executives responsible for the reserves scandal.
Some related material:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/mirrorinvestigates/tm_column_date=29062004-name_index.html
Click here for TRANSCRIPT BBC2 TV “THE MONEY PROGRAMME”, BROADCAST 15 JULY 2004, 9.50pm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3846741.stm
http://www.royaldutchshellplc.com/week26/shellnewsironicshell.htm
http://www.royaldutchshellplc.com/2004%20Documents/nopodds/openlettertovanderveer18july04.htm
London Evening Standard: Shell 'has lied for 10 years'
Newark Star Ledger, NJ: Judge allows Shell fraud case to go forward: “A Newark federal judge has ruled a massive securities fraud case against the world's third-largest oil company can go forward.”: “The allegations were "adequately" made that the oil company "engaged in material and substantial fraudulent conduct in the United States," Bissell wrote in the ruling issued last week.”: “A settlement in a separate case brought by pension holders who claimed losses as a result of the stock price drop, is expected to be wrapped up by the end of the month, court officials said yesterday. Shell has agreed to pay about $90 million to compensate the pensions.”: Tuesday, August 16, 2005: READ THE ARTICLE
Los Angeles Times: Judge Allows Shell Holder Suit to Continue: “A federal judge has allowed a stock fraud lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell to continue…”: “The U.S. Department of Justice has also launched a criminal investigation, according to the opinion by U.S. Chief District Judge John W. Bissell.”: Tuesday 16 August 2005: Read the article
(Above LA TIMES/Associated Press story by JEFFREY GOLD also published in News & Observer, NC; Miami Herald, FL; Houston Chronicle; Seattle Post Intelligencer; Newsday, NY; AP Worldstream and in "Business Week")
ShellNews.net: FULL DETAILS OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PROPOSED $90 MILLION SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT BROUGHT BY SHELL AMERICAN EMPLOYEES: SUNDAY 14 AUGUST 2005: 13.00 ET: Read the article
ShellNews.net: US Class Action Suit Against Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer Alleging Securities Fraud Given Consent to Proceed: 08.00am Thursday 11 August 2005: Read the article
ShellNews.net: Major US Class Action Lawsuit Against Shell Given go-ahead by U.S. District Chief Judge John Bissell: Read the 152 page Order Here: 21.00pm Wednesday 10 August 2005 Read the 152 page Order Here: 21.00pm Wednesday 10 August 2005: Read the article
The Independent: Lies, cover-ups, fat cats and an oil giant in crisis
Fair Use Notice: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Site Ownership: Shell 2004.com (also known as ShellNews.net) IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE SHELL SHAREHOLDERS ORGANISATION: CHAIRMAN ALFRED E DONOVAN, 847a Second Avenue, New York City, NY 10017, USA. The statements expressed here, and any opinions, are those of the writers alone, and neither are opinions of nor reflect the views of Shell2004.com. Content created by the writers is the sole responsibility of the writers and its accuracy and completeness are not endorsed or guaranteed. This goes for all links, too: Shell2004.com has no control over the information you access via such links, does not endorse that information, cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided or any analysis based thereon, and shall not be responsible for it or for the consequences of your use of that information.
© 2004/5 Shell2004.com All rights reserved.
Click here for ShellNews.net HOME PAGE