London, 26 April: ABN Amro has reportedly provided $1 billion to Gazprom to finance its purchase of a controlling share in the controversial oil and gas project Sakhalin II.
Sakhalin II is located on the island of Sakhalin, off the pacific coast of Russia. Environmental campaigners have long opposed its development, because it is sited in the only known breeding ground of the rare Western Grey whale. Onshore construction is also alleged to impact on the population of wild salmon that breed in the island’s network of rivers.
Shell, which originally led the consortium constructing Sakhalin II, reached a deal which saw Gazprom acquire a 50% share in the project last December, under pressure from Russia’s environment watchdog. According to reports in The Moscow Times, ABN Amro provided the gas giant with $1 billion of this money.
A group of NGOs has issued a statement criticising ABN Amro for financing this deal, noting that the bank was a founding signatory of the Equator Principles, which set environmental and social standards for project finance, as well as being short listed as a contender for the sustainable bank of the year award by the Financial Times and International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Johan Frijns, co-ordinator of Utrecht-based NGO BankTrack, said: “The Financial Times and IFC have their own reputations at stake here. ABN Amro’s and Barclays’ association with Sakhalin II will be a credibility drag on the whole lot of them.”
In addition, Dmitry Lisitsyn, chairman of the Sakhalin Island-based Sakhalin Environment Watch, said that the deal has implications for Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, both of which are involved in bids to acquire the Dutch bank. “All banks involved in the great game around ABN Amro want it both ways; but they can’t claim to be environmental leaders while taking over the financing of one of the most ecologically and socially destructive oil and gas projects in the world,” he said.
ABN Amro did not return requests for comment before press time.
Updated 26 April 2007
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.
