Shattering weekend for Alan Shatter, Irish Justice Minister
In the past few days, there have calls for the resignation of the Irish Justice Minister, Mr. Alan Shatter, who dealt with the OSSL corruption allegations against Shell EP Ireland raised in the Irish Parliament on my behalf and engaged in correspondence with me on the subject. I reached the conclusion that he was incompetent and useless. Many Irish people might even think that he has been part of an establishment cover-up.
By John Donovan
Chaos reigns in Ireland, with a scandal engulfing the Irish government, the Irish Police (the Garda), The Police Commissioner and the Irish Police Ombudsman - the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission(GSOC). This follows news relating to police whistleblowers and the discovery that an unknown party apparently bugged the offices of the Police Ombudsman offices.
A retired judge has been appointed to conduct an inquiry to establish the facts about the controversy.
In the past few days there have calls for the resignation of the Irish Justice Minister, Mr. Alan Shatter, who dealt with the OSSL corruption allegations against Shell EP Ireland raised in the Irish Parliament on my behalf and engaged in correspondence with me on the subject. I reached the conclusion that he was incompetent and useless. Many Irish people might even think that he has been part of an establishment cover-up.
The Police Ombudsman office has for several months been investigating whistleblower allegations made by Shell’s “Mr Fixit” for the controversial Corrib Gas Project in Ireland, OSSL.
The small company alleges that it was the conduit for Shell sponsored corruption, including bribery involving free alcohol for 200 cops. It has provided as evidence an OSSL invoice to Shell naming senior police officers. One of whom, a Chief Superintendent, actually helped unload a van full of booze for distribution to police officers, alleged by Shell to Sea protesters, to be acting as “Shell’s Cops.”
The Shell led Corrib Gas project has been delayed by years and is miles over budget. The bribes were meant to smooth progress.
It is not yet known whether Shell supplied to the GSOC a copy of the evidence Shell assembled in an internal investigation involving senior Shell officials from The Hague. It would certainly be vital evidence along with sworn testimonies already supplied to the GSOC by OSSL directors.
OSSL intends to discuss the bribery scandal with Shell’s new CEO Ben van Beurden at the upcoming Royal Dutch Shell Plc AGM. Last year Desmond Kane of OSSL was pacified by the pledges made to him at the AGM by the then CEO Peter Voser, who subsequently prudently opted for early retirement.
Mr Kane is likely to be more forthright this time.
By John Donovan
Chaos reigns in Ireland, with a scandal engulfing the Irish government, the Irish Police (the Garda), The Police Commissioner and the Irish Police Ombudsman - the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission(GSOC). This follows news relating to police whistleblowers and the discovery that an unknown party apparently bugged the offices of the Police Ombudsman offices.
A retired judge has been appointed to conduct an inquiry to establish the facts about the controversy.
In the past few days there have calls for the resignation of the Irish Justice Minister, Mr. Alan Shatter, who dealt with the OSSL corruption allegations against Shell EP Ireland raised in the Irish Parliament on my behalf and engaged in correspondence with me on the subject. I reached the conclusion that he was incompetent and useless. Many Irish people might even think that he has been part of an establishment cover-up.
The Police Ombudsman office has for several months been investigating whistleblower allegations made by Shell’s “Mr Fixit” for the controversial Corrib Gas Project in Ireland, OSSL.
The small company alleges that it was the conduit for Shell sponsored corruption, including bribery involving free alcohol for 200 cops. It has provided as evidence an OSSL invoice to Shell naming senior police officers. One of whom, a Chief Superintendent, actually helped unload a van full of booze for distribution to police officers, alleged by Shell to Sea protesters, to be acting as “Shell’s Cops.”
The Shell led Corrib Gas project has been delayed by years and is miles over budget. The bribes were meant to smooth progress.
It is not yet known whether Shell supplied to the GSOC a copy of the evidence Shell assembled in an internal investigation involving senior Shell officials from The Hague. It would certainly be vital evidence along with sworn testimonies already supplied to the GSOC by OSSL directors.
OSSL intends to discuss the bribery scandal with Shell’s new CEO Ben van Beurden at the upcoming Royal Dutch Shell Plc AGM. Last year Desmond Kane of OSSL was pacified by the pledges made to him at the AGM by the then CEO Peter Voser, who subsequently prudently opted for early retirement.
Mr Kane is likely to be more forthright this time.
Illicit activities of Royal Dutch Shell snared in NSA surveillance programs?
It would be ironic if Shell, a company that was publicly exposed for engaging in spying, undercover activities and dirty tricks operations against its perceived enemies, such as Greenpeace and John Donovan, are exposed again, this time by government secret surveillance programs.
By Washington Observer
Over the last year or so there have been a number of revelations about the telecom data collection capabilities of the National Security Agency and how those capabilities have been used – see informative Washington Post article index facility: “NSA Secrets.”
We shall presume that given the treaty arrangements between the US and the UK (and Canada, New Zealand, and Australia) that the British Secret Service is also involved in similar activities and that there is a great deal of cooperation between the agencies.
For companies like Royal Dutch Shell this poses an interesting conundrum. Shell is notorious (as are other companies) for flaunting the law (within limits, of course) when they believe there is much to be gained financially, politically, etc. Most recently we have seen allegations that Shell has engaged for over a decade in a conspiracy to fix the international price of crude oil. BP, StatOil, JP Morgan and others were named as co-conspirators.
Reaching back into the relatively recent past, the US Dept. of Defense also confirmed that Shell was or had been under investigation for allegedly conspiring to violate US espionage laws by targeting classified technologies.
What is now clear however, is that any telecom conversations between US Shell Oil Co employees/management and their hirelings and co-conspirators were swept up by NSA and recorded. It would be a safe bet that they have been placed in some sort of permanent storage for retrieval as needed. It is also a safe bet that the email and telecom conversation of anyone ‘targeted’ by Shell and their co-conspirators were also probably monitored and recorded.
I am not a legal expert on the type of surreptitiously captured communications that may be used in any legal proceedings, but I would guess they could be used in the case involving the US Dept. of Defense.
In any event, it seems to me that it would be wise to presume that NSA’s diligent efforts at tracking down terrorists (and criminals) may mean that Royal Dutch Shell and others could have some serious legal trouble ahead of them in the future.
It would be ironic if Shell, a company that was publicly exposed for engaging in spying, undercover activities and dirty tricks operations against its perceived enemies, such as Greenpeace and John Donovan, are exposed again, this time by government secret surveillance programs.
The TRUTH will set you FREE.
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