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ShellNews.net: Shell pays almost a quarter of a billion dollars in fines and settlements arising from reserves scandal, but more litigation is underway: "A court hearing is taking place today in the US District Court of New Jersey in respect of a billion dollar class action law suite against Shell by US institutional shareholders": 16.30: Wednesday 13 July 2005

 

Shell has already paid $150 million dollars in fines imposed by the US Securities & Exchange Commission and the UK Financial Services Authority. Shell has now agreed to settle a claim from its former and current US employees for $90 million dollars (subject to court approval) thereby arriving at a combined total of $240 million thus far.

 

A court hearing is taking place today in the US District Court of New Jersey in respect of a billion dollar class action law suite against Shell by US institutional shareholders. Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz LLP is the lead plaintiff law firm acting for Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System & Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System. The action is also against former and current Shell directors, including Royal Dutch Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer and E & P COE, Malcolm Brinded. Shell auditors/consultants, PriceWaterhouseCoopers & KPMG are also named Defendants in the lawsuit which contains serious allegations of wrongdoing including fraud.  

 

Aside from the reserves related litigation, Shell is appealing against a decision by a Malaysian High Court Judge on 20 Sept 2004 that Shell "unlawfully" deducted money from a Shell employee pension fund. As has been reported in the Malaysian press, many of the relevant Shell pensioners – a group of 399 - are ageing and sickly. Some have already died. Others are losing their memory. The High Court of Appeal has fixed an open hearing for three days commencing Monday 17th October 2005. According to a leaked document in the hands of ShellNews.net, the group plans to arrange for 140 of their members to attend the Appeal. It states in the relevant document: “Your presence in court on these dates would show your unity and teamwork. You would be able to show to the world that we, the poor, the innocent and the weak have been bullied by the strong, arrogant, and heartless Giant Corporation.”

 

Other Shell pensioner groups are also suing Shell in Malaysia on similar grounds.

 

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LEGAL STUFF (NO NEED TO READ UNLESS YOU ARE A SHELL LAWYER, OR SOMEONE WITH A DEEP INTEREST IN SHELL, OR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION OR COPYRIGHT ISSUES)

LEGAL STATEMENT BY THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP REGARDING THIS WEBSITE: I, Alfred Donovan, would like to remind Shell lawyers that the "group" has placed on record its acknowledgement of my freedom to air my opinions about Shell on ShellNews.net. I did of course already have rights under various freedom of expression conventions and declarations but its nice to know that Shell, one of the multinational rulers of our planet, recognises this fact. The Royal Dutch Shell Group made the following unusual statement in a legal document in regards to this website: - "The... Group... have been aware of the site since the beginning and whilst they would not endorse or agree with many of the comments made by the Respondent on the website, they have taken the view that the Respondent is entitled to express his opinions and to use the Internet as a medium for doing so." This statement drafted by Shell lawyers and authorised by the "Group", amounts to tacit approval/acceptance/recognition of this website by Shell. It was submitted to The World Intellectual Property Organisation in May 2005 by Shell International Petroleum Company Limited on behalf of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in proceedings against me, Alfred Donovan, as the "Respondent" (owner) of three domain names, including www.royaldutchshellplc.com. It remains a mystery why Shell has taken an entirely different view regarding the fundamental human right to freedom of expression in respect of the former Shell geologist Dr John Huong, the well-known Shell whistle-blower, in relation to postings under his name elsewhere on this same website. Eight companies within the Royal Dutch Shell Group collectively obtained a High Court Injunction to silence him. The Injunction remains in force.

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