5 April 2004
Mr Colin Joseph Shell Shareholders Organisation
Freeman Kendall 847a Second Avenue (bn 166)
43 Fetter Lane New York
London EC4A 1JU NY 10017 USA
3 Pages By Fax Only To: 011 44 (0) 207 716 3672
Dear Mr Joseph
Following publication on the Internet of the letter I faxed to you yesterday, astonishing information has been supplied to me. I had anticipated that other “whistleblowers” might contact me, but I had no idea that any such information (which I have double-checked) would be directly relevant to me.
It has come as an enormous shock to discover that when I wrote in 1998 to senior Shell management figures bringing the “cloak and dagger” skulduggery to their attention, I was in fact communicating directly with spymasters of the Hakluyt Foundation – the shadowy organisation closely linked with MI6 which specialises in undercover operations for corporate clients, including Shell.
Two knighted senior figures from Shell have headed the firm which employs MI6 agents to work for private companies such as Shell. A former Group Chairman of the Royal Dutch Shell Group was until 2002 President of the Hakluyt Foundation while simultaneously being a director of Shell Transport; another director of Shell Transport was simultaneously Chairman of Hakluyt & Company Limited. No wonder they were both so unreceptive to my pleas for their intervention. Were their fellow Shell directors aware of the personal connection with Hakluyt?
One of the above gentleman took over at the helm of the Hakluyt Supervisory Board from Sir Fitzroy Maclean – the former soldier, spy and diplomat often credited as being Ian Fleming’s model for “James Bond”. How ironic that I mentioned “SPECTRE” in the letter I faxed across yesterday.
The head of MI6, Richard Dearlove, is reportedly a close friend of Mike Reynolds, who together with Christopher James founded Hakluyt in 1995. Both are former members of the British Foreign Service. Reynolds founded MI6’s counterterrorism branch. According to Christopher James the firm’s purpose is “to do for industry what we had done for the government”.
A Hakluyt brochure apparently promises to find information for clients (including Shell) that they “will not receive by the usual government, media and commercial routes”.
It is reported that Shell International turned to Hakluyt when Shell’s reputation came under fire in the mid-nineties. I note that Mr Wiseman represents Shell International. Apparently corporate clients of Hakluyt such as Shell are particularly concerned about “destabilization campaigns”.
In this connection I would remind you of the various libellous Press Releases which Shell UK circulated about my son and I from mid-1995 onwards. The ferocious content demonstrated just how livid Shell management was about the scale and success of our campaigning activity. So we clearly fell within the target group.
It is against this backdrop that Shell/DJ Freeman took the decision to use undercover operatives against us. Subsequently all of the skulduggery mentioned in my previous letter occurred; the admitted undercover ops; the threats, intimidation of witnesses; burglaries etc - dirty tricks on a breathtaking scale.
Now that Shell’s extremely close association with Hakluyt has emerged can you please indicate whether you or your firm ever had any direct or indirect connection with Hakluyt in any of its guises? Is Mr Christopher James of Hakluyt also Mr Christopher Philips of “Cofton Consultants” – one of the admitted undercover agents? Are they one and the same? Our solicitors investigated “Mr Phillips” (and “Cofton Consultants”). The credentials on his business card were false. No such company ever existed (check with Companies House) thus his claim to be a “director” was also false. The office address given turned out to be a box number. The office phone number was in actuality an answering service. In short the company name, the company address and the phone number were all a front – a deceptive to obtain information on a fraudulent basis.
Lord Inge, recently chosen by Prime Minister Tony Blair as one of the members of the Butler Inquiry into intelligence on Iraq, decided that it was appropriate to resign from the Hakluyt Foundation soon after his new appointment. Apparently Lord Inge and his fellow directors were not always able to stop “Hakluyt’s tear-away tendencies.”
In this connection you may recall my suggestion in an earlier letter that things may have got out of hand. Some over-zealous individual(s) whether Hakluyt operatives or from another spy firm, may have exceeded a brief from you or your client? Thus it is possible that inappropriate actions were taken of which you had no personal knowledge.
I have also noted that Hakluyt sometimes uses serving operatives from foreign Secret Services, such as Manfred Schlickenrieder. Perhaps this explains the exploits of the mysterious American Mr ****** ***** who I have speculated (based on my own research and that undertaken by The Guardian newspaper) is a serving member of an American Secret Service Agency?
Mr ***** arrived on the scene from his ****** base during the same period when the other activity occurred. All of the dirty tricks and deception appeared to be co-ordinated. I believe it was all designed to pervert the course of justice.
Mr Joseph, we are obviously getting into deep waters. I invite you to disassociate yourself and your firm from Shell if you deem it prudent to do so in view of the information which has now come to light. Unless of course you already knew about the intimate involvement of Shell senior management with the types of shady/illegal undercover activity it repeatedly and categorically denied.
For swift communication kindly use my email address: alfrededonovan@hotmail.com
Yours sincerely
Alfred Donovan
Chairman, Shell Shareholders Organisation
Cc Mr Malcolm Brinded, Group Managing Director, Royal Dutch Shell Group
Mr Richard Woodman, General UK Counsel, Shell International Limited
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