Daily Express: FAT CATS REWARD: SIR PHILIP Watts
His deputy, Dutchman Walter van der Vijver, repeatedly warned him of the overstatement and finally exploded in an angry e-mail last November that he was “sick and tired of lying about the extent of our reserves”.
Published 28 August 2004
Company: Shell
Payoff: £1m
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell shocked stock markets in January by admitting that it had overstated its proven gas and oil reserves by more than 20 per cent, the equivalent of a mind-boggling 4.47 billion barrels. Shell, long considered a safe haven by private investors and pension funds, saw £3bn wiped off its share value in the subsequent furore. Almost everybody with a pension will have been hit by the fallout.
Chairman Watts initially claimed he first heard about the shortfall at the end of 2003 but it was later reported that he was warned about the dangers in February 2002. His deputy, Dutchman Walter van der Vijver, repeatedly warned him of the overstatement and finally exploded in an angry e-mail last November that he was “sick and tired of lying about the extent of our reserves”.
An independent review commissioned by Shell criticised both men, who were forced to step down in March.
Unbelievably, Watts pocketed severance worth £1m, although he did forfeit performance-related payments and stock options. The bluff businessman now faces the prospect of multiple lawsuits from disgruntled investors and a possible criminal prosecution by the US Justice Department. Van der Vijver, who might also be charged, can console himself with a whopping £2.5m payout.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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.
