Corrupt Sultan of Brunei introduces tough Islamic penal code
By John Donovan
The head of the corrupt, seedy Brunei Royal Family, the Sultan of Brunei, who once accepted a $500,000 wedding gift from Royal Dutch Shell, has gone ahead with his plans to introduce a penal code that will include amputations.
Extracts from a BBC News article dated 30 April 2014
Brunei will introduce a tough Islamic penal code from Thursday, its leader has announced. Sharia punishments that will include the severing of limbs for theft and death by stoning for adulterers will be brought in over three years. In April, the UN voiced “deep concern” about the planned change. The tiny state, on the island of Borneo, is ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and has grown rich on oil and gas exports. When he announced it last year the Sultan, 67, one of the world’s wealthiest men, called the code “a part of the great history of our nation”. The move sparked a rare strong response on social media. In February the Sultan warned internet users to stop attacking his plans.
This Vanity Fair article about Prince Jefri, the brother of the Sultan of Brunei, tells you all you need to know about the “Royal Family” and the hypocrisy of introducing punishments that effect ordinary people, but not them.
Extract
…Jefri was not a financial simpleton at all but “an unabashed and unreformed serial liar,” charged with stealing $14.8 billion from Brunei when he served as its finance minister, from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. The defendants claimed that he had used his stolen billions to finance a 10-year orgy of extravagance and deceit, which culminated only when his brother the Sultan of Brunei set out to recover the fortune Jefri had supposedly hidden.
By John Donovan
The head of the corrupt, seedy Brunei Royal Family, the Sultan of Brunei, who once accepted a $500,000 wedding gift from Royal Dutch Shell, has gone ahead with his plans to introduce a penal code that will include amputations.
Extracts from a BBC News article dated 30 April 2014
Brunei will introduce a tough Islamic penal code from Thursday, its leader has announced. Sharia punishments that will include the severing of limbs for theft and death by stoning for adulterers will be brought in over three years. In April, the UN voiced “deep concern” about the planned change. The tiny state, on the island of Borneo, is ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and has grown rich on oil and gas exports. When he announced it last year the Sultan, 67, one of the world’s wealthiest men, called the code “a part of the great history of our nation”. The move sparked a rare strong response on social media. In February the Sultan warned internet users to stop attacking his plans.
This Vanity Fair article about Prince Jefri, the brother of the Sultan of Brunei, tells you all you need to know about the “Royal Family” and the hypocrisy of introducing punishments that effect ordinary people, but not them.
Extract
…Jefri was not a financial simpleton at all but “an unabashed and unreformed serial liar,” charged with stealing $14.8 billion from Brunei when he served as its finance minister, from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. The defendants claimed that he had used his stolen billions to finance a 10-year orgy of extravagance and deceit, which culminated only when his brother the Sultan of Brunei set out to recover the fortune Jefri had supposedly hidden.
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Extracts
The Sultan’s brother, Prince Jefri, with others, was alleged to have misappropriated up to £23bn of state funds while he was finance minister. The Sultan of Brunei and his playboy brother, whom he accused of vast corruption, have ended their three-month lawsuit with an out-of-court settlement. By lifting the cloak of secrecy over the way the sultan’s family spends Brunei’s massive oil wealth, the lawsuit threatened to shake the tiny state to its foundations. It was expected to raise questions in the minds of the 300,000 citizens of Brunei about the sultan’s hitherto unchallenged right to rule their country like a feudal king.RELATED:Shell, the Brunei Royal Family and Sharia Law
Extracts
The Sultan’s brother, Prince Jefri, with others, was alleged to have misappropriated up to £23bn of state funds while he was finance minister. The Sultan of Brunei and his playboy brother, whom he accused of vast corruption, have ended their three-month lawsuit with an out-of-court settlement. By lifting the cloak of secrecy over the way the sultan’s family spends Brunei’s massive oil wealth, the lawsuit threatened to shake the tiny state to its foundations. It was expected to raise questions in the minds of the 300,000 citizens of Brunei about the sultan’s hitherto unchallenged right to rule their country like a feudal king.RELATED:Shell, the Brunei Royal Family and Sharia Law
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Shell boosts dividend after beating first quarter estimates
Reuters article by Dmitry Zhdannikov published 30 April 2014
(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell capped a strong first quarter reporting season for oil majors with better-than-expected results which were boosted by gas earnings, while shareholders were rewarded with a higher dividend. Shell, which disappointed the market earlier this year with a rare profit warning, said the bulk of its writedown in downstream on Wednesday was related to the Bukom oil refinery in Singapore. The firm said its first quarter upstream earnings were supported by stronger gas results, offset by the impact of exploration well write-offs, and higher costs and depreciation. ”Less positively, oversupply in the industry, rising costs on the back of increasingly difficult explorations, Shell’s exposure to Russia and generally lower margins all present challenges…”
Shell: not entering new Russia investments
Shell’s Ben van Beurden bows to Putin on Good Friday, 18 April 2014
Extracts from an article by AP Business Writer TOBY STERLING published 30 April 2014
AMSTERDAM (AP) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC says it will not be entering new investments in Russia anytime soon as tensions rise over the country’s confrontation with Ukraine. Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said the company, Europe’s largest oil company, will continue to oversee its existing operations and will cooperate with any sanctions placed upon Russia by Western powers. Amid the uncertainty, however, it will hold back on starting new projects. Meanwhile, Henry defended a meeting this month between Shell CEO Ben van Beurden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it should not be interpreted as the company taking sides in the Ukrainian crisis.
Tagged: Ben van Beurden · Oil · President Putin · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Russia
Extracts from a Shell to Sea News Release dated 30 April 2014
In a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2013, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Margaret Sekaggya, called on the Irish Government to “Investigate all allegation and reports of intimidation, harassment and surveillance in the context of the Corrib Gas dispute in a prompt and impartial manner.” Ms Sekaggya’s recommendations were echoed earlier this year by Archbishop Desmond Tutu who supported the call for an independent inquiry into the policing of Corrib.
However earlier this month Minister for Justice Alan Shatter rejected the recommendation saying “I do not see a necessity for an independent inquiry into the policing operation in north County Mayo.”
Terence Conway of Shell-to-Sea states “Bearing in mind the cosy relationship that Alan Shatter enjoyed with the former Garda Commissioner, his hostile reaction to the Garda whistle-blowers and now his rejection of the recommendation by the UN rapporteur for an independent investigation into the policing of the Corrib Gas dispute, it is clear he is quite happy for corruption and human rights abuses to go unchecked within the GardaÃ.”
Royal Dutch Shell Plc 44% fall in profits
Extract from A Motley Fool article by Mark Stones published 30 April 2014 under the headline:
Royal Dutch Shell Plc Hikes Dividend On Cash Flow Boost
Shell this morning reported a 44% fall in profits on a $2.9bn impairment charge relating to refineries in Asia and Europe. Shell’s profit in the first quarter — stripping out losses relating to the changing value of inventories — fell to $4.5bn from $8bn a year earlier. Revenue fell to $110bn against $113bn.
Hess, Mercuria Added to Brent Crude Oil Price-Fixing Lawsuit (1)
Extracts from a Bloomberg News article by Bob Van Voris published 29 April 2014
Mercuria Energy Trading SA and a Hess Corp. (HES:US) unit were added as defendants to a lawsuit claiming they conspired with oil companies including BP Plc (BP/), Statoil ASA (STL) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) to manipulate Brent crude oil prices. “By providing false or inaccurate information and engaging in false or sham trading, defendants undermined the entire pricing structure for the Brent crude oil physical and futures markets,” the investors claimed in their new complaint.
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