Andy Stepanian, 631.291.3010, andy@sparrowmedia.net Tim Rusch, 917.399.0236, ruschtk@gmail.com
New Leaks Show Shell Oil Executives At Center Of Billion Dollar Bribery Scheme Involving Some Of The Most Powerful Officials In Nigeria
Shell's most senior executives were told payments for massive oil block would go to a convicted money-launderer, and then likely flow to then President Goodluck Jonathan and others, but still went through with the deal
Oil giants Shell and Eni knowingly took part in a vast bribery scheme for one of Africa's most valuable oil blocks which deprived Nigeria and its people of $1.1billion, an expose by Global Witness and Finance Uncovered reveals today.
New leaked internal emails seen by Global Witness and Finance Uncovered show that Shell's most senior decision-makers knew that the money they paid for oil block OPL 245 in 2011 would go to convicted money launderer and ex-Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete - rather than to benefit the Nigerian people.
Global Witness has investigated and exposed this case for six years and Shell has consistently denied any wrong-doing, saying it only paid the Nigerian government. The newly leaked emails show this denial is misleading. Emails which went to then CEO Peter Voser reveal that they knew this massive payment would go to Etete. Other emails show Shell execs were told money was likely to flow to some of the most powerful people in the country, including to then President Goodluck Jonathan.
These revelations come shortly after moves by the Trump administration and House Republicans to derail a critical rule, section 1054 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires U.S. listed companies like Shell and Eni to disclose payments just like these. U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson himself lobbied against this payment disclosure provision while serving as Exxon CEO.
Simon Taylor of Global Witness, said: "This is one of the worst corruption scandals the oil industry has ever seen, and this is the biggest development so far. Today's new evidence shows senior executives at the world's fifth biggest company knowingly entered a corrupt deal that deprived the Nigerian people of $1.1billion. That is more than the country's entire health budget for 2016."
Shell and Eni's corrupt deal has huge consequences for ordinary Nigerians. Right now five million Nigerians face starvation and one in ten children don't live to see their fifth birthday. The money paid for the block equates to one and a half times what the UN says is needed to respond to the country's current famine crisis.
Law enforcement raided Shell's headquarters in February 2016; six countries including the U.S. have investigated the deal. An Italian court will begin hearings on20 April to determine whether Shell will face trial on international corruption charges. Several Shell executives from the time of the deal may face proceedings in their personal capacity.
Most alarmingly for investors, when the OPL 245 deal was being negotiated Shell had already been charged for violating provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for paying bribes in Nigeria. Five months before the deal was struck, Shell had entered into a deferred prosecution agreement - the equivalent to being under probation - with the U.S. Department of Justice. This agreement was still in place when the deal went through. Today's news suggests Shell may have violated this agreement by entering into a bribery scheme. It is hugely concerning that the company's most senior executives went anywhere near this deal given the company had such serious sanctions hanging over it.
Ben Van Beurden has been Shell's CEO since 2013. In 2015 he told Global Witness that payments for the block were "morally OK" and "in accordance with the law of Nigeria and international practice". The leaked emails tell a very different story. Van Beurden, in a phone call wire-tapped by Dutch authorities with Shell's CFO, Simon Henry, refers to "really unhelpful emails". One internal email copied to then CEO Peter Voser, stated: "Etete can smell the money. If at nearly 70 years old he does turn his nose up at nearly $1.2 bill (sic) he is completely certifiable. But I think he knows it's his for the taking."
Shauna Leven, Anti-Corruption Campaigns Director, said: "This is a huge scandal - it must trigger change. For too long the world's most powerful and profitable oil companies have masqueraded as leaders of responsible business, while robbing countries of their most precious assets.We could save countless lives across the world if ordinary people were able to benefit from the wealth of their own natural resources."
"Those responsible at Shell could go to jail for these decisions. The company and its individual decision makers in this case need to face justice. Law enforcement in Italy, Nigeria, the UK, the US, the Netherlands and Switzerland need to cooperate to ensure that this happens."
However accountability is only one part of the solution, says Global Witness. This Shell scandal is not an isolated case - the oil, gas and mining industry is the most corrupt on the planet according to the OECD. Corrupt deals like this can be prevented through strong enforcement of bribery laws together with strong transparency laws that make it impossible to conduct such deals in secret.
Leven continued: "Over 30 major economies including the U.S, UK, Canada, Norway and all EU countries now have laws in place that require oil, gas and mining companies to disclose what they're paying any government on a project-by-project basis. Had these laws been in place at the time of the deal, Shell would have had to put these payments on public record. It is highly unlikely that they would have wanted to do that. Shining a light on corrupt deals like OPL 245 prevents multinational companies from scheming with greedy government officials to get rich at the expense of ordinary people."
A Shell spokesperson told Finance Uncovered: "Given this matter is currently under investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment on specifics. However, based on our review of the Prosecutor of Milan's file and all of the information and facts available to Shell, we do not believe that there is a basis to prosecute Shell. Furthermore, we are not aware of any evidence to support a case against any former or current Shell employee." If it was ultimately proved that Etete's company made bribe payments relating to the OPL 245 deal "it is Shell's position that none of those payments were made with its knowledge, authorisation or on its behalf", the company said.
Eni told Global Witness that it was not appropriate to debate the merits of the allegations as proceedings were pending. They noted "inaccurate statements and mischaracterizations of the record, including, for example, your description of the structure of the acquisition OPL 245", continuing "none of the contracts relating to the 2011 transaction was executed secretly or designed to 'hide' any party's transaction".
Both companies said they had commissioned separate, independent investigations. "No illegal conduct was identified," Eni has said, claiming that it "concluded the transaction with the Nigerian government, without the involvement of any intermediaries". Shell said it had shared key findings of its OPL 245 investigation with relevant authorities and that "we do not believe that there is a basis to prosecute Shell".
In January Goodluck Jonathan released a statement saying he "was not accused, indicted or charged for corruptly collecting any monies as kickbacks or bribes" in the OPL 245 affair.
'Voters Won Big': Wisconsin Supreme Court Restores Ballot Drop Boxes
"At the very heart of our democracy is the fundamental freedom to vote," said Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. "This is a victory for our democracy."
Democracy defenders in Wisconsin celebrated on Friday after the state Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes can be located throughout communities for the November elections, reversing a decision from two years ago, when there was a majority of right-wing justices.
"Wisconsin voters won big today with the decision to reinstate drop boxes across the Badger State," said All Voting is Local Wisconsin state director Sam Liebert in a statement. "Drop boxes are an incredibly popular form of voting that offer greater access to the elections for those who may not be able to wait in line at the polls, particularly those with disabilities."
"Wisconsin voters should have more options, and drop boxes are a secure and easy way to increase civic participation and ensure voters have another safe, secure, and accessible way to cast their ballot," Liebert added.
Common Cause Wisconsin co-chair Penny Bernard Schaber, whose group joined an amicus brief to the court in May, also welcomed the ruling, saying that "reinstating the use of secure ballot drop boxes is good for all of us in Wisconsin."
"It is especially good for individual voters who have mobility issues and time constraints that make it difficult for them to go into and out of a polling place or an election clerk's office," the former Democratic state representative similarly stressed. "Secure ballot drop boxes are a necessary and safe way to return our ballots."
Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) declared: "This is huge news for democracy! Making it easier for folks to vote is a good thing."
Common Cause Wisconsin pointed out that "voter drop boxes have been used since before 2016 and in 2020-21, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of drop boxes was expanded to 570 located in 66 of Wisconsin's 72 counties. The expanded number of drop boxes, authorized by the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), offered voters a more convenient and safe way to ensure that their absentee ballots could be returned in time to be counted, in part because of the uncertainty of timely delivery of ballots by the U.S. Postal Service."
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote in the majority opinion that "our decision today does not force or require that any municipal clerks use drop boxes. It merely acknowledges what Wis. Stat. § 6.87(4)(b)1. has always meant: that clerks may lawfully utilize secure drop boxes in an exercise of their statutorily-conferred discretion."
She was joined by the other three liberals, including Justice Janet Protasiewicz, whose election last year ended right-wing control of the court. Wisconsinites are preparing for a similar electoral battle next year, when Walsh Bradley plans to retire.
The court earlier this week agreed to take up a pair of high-profile abortion cases. Late last year, the liberal majority threw out Wisconsin's legislative maps, which were rigged to favor Republicans. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed new maps in February.
Applauding the ruling on Friday, Evers said that the court "affirmed what we've been saying all along: Drop box voting is safe, secure, and legal, and local clerks should be empowered to make decisions that make sense for their local communities."
"At the very heart of our democracy is the fundamental freedom to vote," he continued. "This is a victory for our democracy. And we're going to keep fighting to ensure that every eligible voter can cast their ballot safely, securely, and as easily as possible to make sure their voices are heard."
The decision comes as Wisconsin is expected to play a key role in this year's contest for the White House. Democratic President Joe Biden, who is now seeking reelection and campaigning in Wisconsin on Friday, won the state by about 20,000 votes in 2020, when he beat former President Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican nominee.
'Disturbing Milestone': Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Surpass 1,000 Since October 7
"While a few individuals have been detained, no civilian or soldier has been prosecuted in connection with any of these 1,000 attacks," said a coalition of aid agencies.
A coalition of aid agencies on Friday implored the international community to take concrete, punitive action against the Israeli government and settlers after the number of settler attacks in the occupied West Bank since October 7 surpassed 1,000.
The Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), a group of international organizations working in the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a statement that the rate of settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank has doubled since the same time last year, from an average of two per day to four.
"At least 10 people, including two children, have been killed during these attacks, and at least 234 have been injured, including 20 children. Since 7 October, 1,260 people, including 600 children, have been forcibly displaced amid settler violence and movement restrictions. The displaced households are from 20 herding and Bedouin communities throughout Area C of the West Bank. As one survivor of settler violence explained, 'No place is safe here.'"
"Settler violence is premeditated and orchestrated by organized groups from known outposts and settlements, with the support of Israel's government, including local and regional settlement councils," the group added, noting the limited sanctions that the United States and the European Union have imposed on individual settlers "have failed to reduce the frequency of attacks."
"While a few individuals have been detained, no civilian or soldier has been prosecuted in connection with any of these 1,000 attacks," AIDA said. "Reports indicate that some illegal outpost farms operated by sanctioned settlers—many of whom have been reported to be at the center of multiple violent incidents—have received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of material support from the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Settlements, the Settlement Administration in the Ministry of Defense, and through local and regional settlement councils."
"Foreign governments must act now to stop this illegal appropriation by taking meaningful measures to hold the Israeli government and perpetrators of these attacks to account."
AIDA urged the international community to "adopt new restrictive measures which go beyond individual settlers to target identified organizations and state entities who promote violence and/or take part in attacks on Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure."
The group also argued that the far-right Israeli government "should be held accountable for the repeated and evidence-based allegations that the military and other state authorities are tolerating, enabling, and at times participating in settler violence."
A Human Rights Watch report published in April found that the Israeli military "either took part in or did not protect Palestinians from violent settler attacks in the West Bank that have displaced people from 20 communities and have entirely uprooted at least seven communities" since October 7.
AIDA's statement came days after the Israeli government announced the seizure of nearly five square miles of land in the West Bank—Israel's largest land grab in the occupied Palestinian territory in more than three decades.
Sally Abi Khalil, Middle East and North Africa director for Oxfam International—an AIDA member—said Friday that settler attacks in the West Bank have reached a "disturbing milestone."
"In a context where outpost legalization is being fast-tracked, and Israel is stealing more and more land," said Khalil, "foreign governments must act now to stop this illegal appropriation by taking meaningful measures to hold the Israeli government and perpetrators of these attacks to account."
'I Was Beaten Day and Night': Freed Gaza Detainees Allege Torture by Israeli Forces
"Our eyes were blindfolded, our hands and feet shackled, and they set dogs on us."
Palestinians recently released from detention by Israeli forces alleged in newly released interviews that they were subjected to various forms of torture during their time in prison, including frequent beatings and sleep deprivation.
"I was beaten day and night," 37-year-old Mahmud al-Zaanin, toldAgence France-Presse from his bed at Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital. "Our eyes were blindfolded, our hands and feet shackled, and they set dogs on us."
Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have been detained en masse, often without charge, since Israel launched its latest assault on the Gaza Strip following a deadly Hamas-led attack on October 7. Addameer, a Palestinian human rights organization, estimates that 54 Palestinians—the majority of them from Gaza—have died in Israeli prisons since October "due to torture, inhumane detention conditions, systematic abuse, and deliberate attacks."
AFP spoke to some of the dozens of recently freed Palestinian detainees who were taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital following their release from Israeli prisons on June 11.
One man, identified as Zaanin, said he was denied access to the bathroom and medical treatment and deprived of sleep. Another man told the news agency that his "hands were injured from electric torture" and that he witnessed "more than 30 prisoners with amputated legs, some with both legs missing, and some with both eyes missing."
Whistleblower accounts from Israel's notorious Sde Teiman prison camp in the Negev desert have alleged that Israeli doctors have amputated the limbs of detainees due to injuries caused by handcuffing—"a routine event," according to one doctor's testimony.
"Our detainees have been subjected to all kinds of torture behind bars."
The treatment described by freed Palestinian detainees constitutes a grievous violation of international humanitarian law.
One recently released Palestinian man told AFP that "some young men died from excess beatings and dog attacks." AFP noted that the man showed "scars on his arms which he said were from dog bites." According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, the Israeli military has used trained police dogs to "systematically attack Palestinian civilians during military operations in the Gaza Strip."
Earlier this week, as Common Dreamsreported, the director of what was once Gaza's main hospital said he was tortured by Israeli forces during his seven months in prison. Muhammad Abu Salmiya said he, like so many other Palestinian detainees, was held without charge.
"Our detainees have been subjected to all kinds of torture behind bars," Abu Salmiya said. "There was almost daily torture."
Alice Jill Edwards, the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, said in May that she "received allegations of individuals being beaten, kept in cells blindfolded and handcuffed for excessive periods, deprived of sleep, and threatened with physical and sexual violence."
She noted at the time that it appears "no effective measures have been taken by the Israeli authorities to investigate these allegations."
"The Israeli authorities must investigate all complaints and reports of torture or ill-treatment promptly, impartially, effectively, and transparently," said Edwards. "Those responsible at all levels, including commanders, must be held accountable, while victims have a right to reparation and compensation."