teritis and cancer among the people in the 28 March 2008 The Shell case in Nigeria area as a result of the oil industry. São Paulo, April 24th, 2001 Responding to claims for environmental jus- http://archive.greenpeace.org tice, Nigerian military forces have used ter- rorism as a means of intimidating and stop- Since Shell began drilling in Nige- ping the environmental demands. Since the ria's Niger Delta, it has wreaked en- Rivers State Internal Security Task Force be- vironmental havoc on the land of the gan working, it has been held responsible for Ogoni, the predominant native group the deaths of more than two thousand Ogonis Community Information - Erris, County Mayo, Ireland in Nigeria. and for the destruction of 27 villages. Nine pacifist leaders were hanged after trials in Nigeria accounts for 14% of Shell's global oil military courts. Two witnesses that accused http://online.wsj.com/ lations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices production. At the same time, 40% of Shell's them later admitted that Shell and the military Shell March 26, 2008 Act as a result of such use. Shell de- oil spills worldwide between 1976 and 1991 had bribed them with promises of money and clined to comment beyond the filings have occurred in this country. In the Niger jobs at Shell. Shell admitted having given Delta there were 2,976 oil spills during these years. money to the Nigerian military, who brutally Investigated Wednesday. In the 1970s spillage totalled more that four tried to silence the voices which claimed justice. Panalpina said in May that U.S. au- times that of the 1989 Exxon Valdez tragedy. In March 2001 the US Supreme Court ap- for Corruption thorities had requested documents re- Shell has contaminated farmlands and water proved a lawsuit filed against the company. lated to its services to Nigeria, adding sources, besides releasing gases meters away The attorneys defending Shell and its subsidi- By Department the review had been extended to Ka- from the houses where the Ogoni live. Shell ary Shell Transport & Trading argued that the zakhstan and Saudi Arabia. thus promotes acid rain, mass killing of fish US could not authorise a lawsuit for crimes and the suffering of people due to health which happened in other countries, even if of Justice problems from water and air pollution. they involved international law. Relatives of A short-lived World Bank investigation Ken Saro-Wiwa and John Kpuinen, leaders of By BENOIT FAUCON found levels of hydrocarbon pollution in wa- the protests against oil drilling in Ogoni land, Nigeria, presented the case in 1996 at a New The Wall Street Journal ter in Ogoni land more than sixty times US limits and a 1997 Project Underground sur- York federal court. As a result of the protests vey found petroleum hydrocarbons in one against Shell, the military government that LONDON — The U.S. Depart- Ogoni village's water source to be 360 times ruled Nigeria repeatedly tortured the two ac- ment of Justice is examining cor- the levels allowed in the European Commu- tivists. Saro-Wiwa and Kpuinen were hanged in 1995, after being found guilty of murder. ruption allegations in the use of a nity, where Shell originates. freight-forwarding firm by Royal Owens Wiwa, a physician, has observed Toxic Substances and Technologies Dutch Shell PLC, the company higher rates of certain diseases like bronchial Campaign, Greenpeace Brazil asthma, other respiratory diseases, gastroen- said in regulatory filing published last week. www.mayogasinfo.com A probe by the Securities and Ex- LINKS & RESOURCES Researched facts and figures on Corrib change Commission is also under way, it said. Eleven oil and oil-service firms re- www.indymedia.ie/mayo www.nigerdeltaawareness.com Open forum news and analysis In its annual report with the SEC, the ceived a July 2 letter from the Justice Oil and gas impact in the Niger Delta Department’s criminal-fraud section Anglo-Dutch oil company said it was www.shelltosea.com asking them to detail their relationship www.londonrisingtide.org.uk contacted in July by the Department of with Panalpina, people familiar with Campaign website Battling climate change and fossil fuels Justice regarding its use of a unit of the matter said last year. Last year, Panalpina World Transport Ltd., a Houston-based oil-services companies www.mayococo.ie/en/News/GasTerminal/ www.publicinquiry.ie/reports.php#ld196 Swiss-based shipping and logistics- Mayo County Council Corrib info Transocean Inc. and Schlumberger Ltd. "The Great Corrib Gas Controversy" management company. said they received inquiries from the www.corribgas.com/ Shell said in the filling the Justice De- department related to the Panalpina in- www.transparency.org vestigation. Shell's pro-Corrib website Measuring corruption worldwide partment was looking at potential vio- "I decided to take the initiative and get the money to erect safety barriers on what is a Corruption on a corporate scale is an everyday fact of big business, Landslide group on very dangerous stretch of road, where a young and all major companies have to deal with the problem; the larger the motorist was lucky to escape with his life af- the rocks exclusive By Frances Toner ter his car went off the road there in very re- business, the more opportunities for bribes or “facilitation payments”. cent months. Wednesday, March 26, 2008 "Unfortunately, some people aren't happy the According to “The Shell Sustainability Report 2006“ there were 321 money is coming from the Corrib Gas Partners. separate “proven” incidents of “bribery and fraud” within the scope of THE Dooncarton Landslide Committee, set Royal Dutch Shell PLC activities since 2003… that’s an average of over up in the aftermath of the devastating 2003 "Of course it is regrettable five people have north Mayo landslide, is set to be dissolved resigned but it is understandable due to the two cases every single week for three straight years. amidst a storm of controversy. controversial nature of the Corrib gas pipeline in north Mayo. It has emerged the majority of the committee For a company that continues to produce record-breaking profits year ¼ ¼ have resigned over a 10,000 funding alloca- "Sadly, this kind of controversy is a fact of on year ( 18,800,000,000 after tax just for 2007) the likelihood of further tion from Shell E&P Ireland under its local life for a lot of committees in the parish of bribery will unfortunately be present every day. S2S grants scheme to erect safety barriers along a Kilcommon." dangerous stretch of road overlooking the "It's a pity it ended this way," agreed Mr. cliffs of Broadhaven Bay between the villages Sheeran. "But we're not going to be used by of Glengad and Seanbhaile. Shell, who are manipulating voluntary groups tivities of TSKJ, the plant's main building Chairman of the to buy local support. SEC widens Nigeria contractor. TSKJ is an international consor- "This application group, Mr. "This idea of funding for local groups only tium that includes a subsidiary of Halliburton, for funding was Gerard McDon- came when their backs were against the wall bribery probe with the oil services company formerly headed by nell, told The and we don't want any part of it." Vice-President Dick Cheney of the US. not put to the Connaught committee be- Telegraph that Responding to Shell subpoena … The company said the notes showed the cause I knew there he applied for calls from for- "..we're not going building consortium had "considered pay- the funding mer committee to be used by ments to Nigerian officials" … "They are a was no point" without com- members to October 13 2005 Shell, who are ma- http://search.ft.com/nonFtArticle?id=051013000916 contemporaneous account dating back to the mittee consent withdraw the earliest days of who, what, when and how the and this has caused a furore, leading to the funding alloca- nipulating volun- resignation of five of the group's seven members. tion, Mr. Colin The US Securities and Exchange Commission bribery may have occurred," the person [with tary groups to buy knowledge of the probe] said. Joyce, commu- has subpoenaed documents from Royal Dutch However, joint treasurer, Mr. Gerry Sheeran, nications advi- local support" Shell and several other international compa- … One section raises questions on whether said the committee was in fact dissolved en- sor with Shell nies as part of a widening international probe tirely at an emergency meeting, not attended the consortium developed a plan to offer by the chairman, on Friday. E&P Ireland, said: "We haven't been made into a $170m alleged bribery case at a Nige- bribes to Nigerian officials including directors aware of changes in structure of the Dooncar- rian gas plant. of the gas plant, which is quarter-owned by The voluntary committee has been toiling ton Landslide Committee. Shell. tirelessly for almost five years to rebuild the The case, which is seen as an important test of local cemetery that was swept away on Sep- "When we are we will review this funding rich countries' commitment to tackling al- The minutes of a December 1993 "cultural tember 19, 2003, when a sudden downpour of allocation." leged corporate bribery, is being probed in meeting" list seven people - including Don rain caused 200,000 cubic metres of debris to Mayo County Council have agreed to match France, the US and Nigeria. Etiebet, Nigeria's then petroleum minister - hurtle down the Dooncarton mountainside. the Corrib Natural Gas Local Grants Pro- ¼ The companies involved have denied wrong- next to the phrase: "cover directly". Beneath, The disaster swept homes, livestock and five gramme allocation, amounting to 20,000 in doing and said they are not themselves under four other surnames - including those of gas human remains from the local cemetery out to sea.