Financial Times: Dutch regulator exempts Shell pay packages
By Clay Harris, Carola Hoyos and Ian Bickerton
Published: May 16 2004
The Dutch regulator investigating the Royal Dutch/Shell reserves crisis said on Sunday night that performance-related packages granted to Jeroen van der Veer, chairman of its management committee, and another senior executive were exempt from its registration rules.
The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) said that after “careful consideration this weekend” it had decided that the packages had been “granted under specific conditions to be met in the future” and did not need to be registered.
The decision reverses indications given by the regulator on Friday, when Werner van Bastelaar of AFM said: “We are of the opinion that bonus packages should be registered with us. We are examining the facts carefully.”
Sjoerd Eisma, a Royal Dutch/Shell legal adviser, however, had said it was his view that there was “no legal obligation for Shell or the beneficiary to make any announcement to the Dutch regulator at this time.”
“It is Dutch law that if the award is made under suspensive conditions (where the effect of the award is suspended until the condition is satisfied), the obligation to inform the regulator arises on the satisfaction of the condition.”
The AFM’s statement suggests that it now agrees with Shell’s reading. Under the packages for Mr van der Veer and Rob Routs, chief executive of fuel refining and marketing, long-term incentive bonuses would be paid out after three years and only if Shell’s shareholder return beats its closest peers, a condition that has not yet been met.
Shell had disclosed options in shares of Royal Dutch granted to Mr van der Veer and Mr Routs. It had had also disclosed to the London Stock Exchange options and long-term incentive bonus of shares in the UK arm for Malcolm Brinded, head of exploration and production.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
