BBC NEWS: Venezuela-Shell tax row heats up
“Venezuelan tax authorities have closed a Royal Dutch Shell office for 48 hours and asked for an injunction on some of the oil firm’s assets in a tax dispute. The row centres on a $131m (£74m) bill for back taxes covering 2001-2004, presented to the oil giant in July.”
Saturday 13 August 2005
Venezuelan tax authorities have closed a Royal Dutch Shell office for 48 hours and asked for an injunction on some of the oil firm’s assets in a tax dispute. The row centres on a $131m (£74m) bill for back taxes covering 2001-2004, presented to the oil giant in July.
Venezuela’s tax authority said it had put a hold on Shell goods worth $131m and shut its office in Lake Maracaibo.
Shell is challenging the demand, which is part of a wider clampdown on alleged tax avoidance by foreign firms.
“Shell Venezuela reiterates that it has paid all taxes mandated by the law and complies with Venezuelan law,” the company said in a statement.
Under the injunction, Shell will be prevented from exporting or selling the goods earmarked under the injunction as collateral in the tax dispute, Seniat – the country’s tax authority – said.
Foreign deals probed
However, it did add that the oil giant would still be able to use the equipment.
Shell refused to comment on the injunction but did confirm that one of its offices had been closed, saying the measure would have “minimum impact” on its activities.
Venezuelan authorities have said that foreign firms may owe up to $3bn (£1.7bn) in unpaid taxes resulting from deals agreed in the 1990s under the leadership of former President Rafael Caldera.
Current left-wing leader Hugo Chavez is seeking a greater hold over the oil industry, claiming that in the past, the country did not see enough benefit from its proceeds.
As a result, 22 oil companies – including Chevron, BP and Total – are now under investigation.
Venezuela, a member of the oil producers’ cartel Opec, is the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4147622.stm
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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.
