The pension fund will stop investing in firms at work in Sudan, Iran.
By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Tallahassee Bureau Chief
Published September 20, 2007
TALLAHASSEE – Florida made a political statement with its pension fund Wednesday by cutting investment ties with 57 companies doing energy-related work in the Sudan and Iran.
Intended as a condemnation of genocide in Darfur and terrorism in Iran, the action was also meant to spur other states to take similar steps.
At least two other states have also passed laws requiring divestiture of stocks tied to Sudan, but Florida is the first state to target both countries.
The amount of money involved is $1.3-billion, less than 1 percent of the $137-billion that was in the fund Wednesday.
“This is a step that’s going to be taken to help defend our country, make us safer and hopefully help end the genocide in the Sudan,” said state Sen. Ted Deutch, a Delray Beach Democrat.
The first-term lawmaker sponsored the law, the Protecting Florida Investment Act, which Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law June 8.
The list of affected companies includes few household names and no U.S.-based firms.
Several oil companies are on the list, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC of Great Britain, Eni of Italy, Statoil of Norway and French oil giant Total SA.
According to the standards set forth in the law, the 43 companies on the Sudan list either do business with the Sudanese government; are involved in oil, mineral or power-related projects; provide little benefit to the country’s poor; or have been complicit in the genocide in Darfur.
The 27 firms on the Iran list do business with the Iranian government or have similar energy-related projects or have invested in Iran’s petroleum sector. Thirteen companies are on both lists, reducing the total to 57.
Pension fund money managers are immediately barred from investing in the firms on the list and must divest the state’s holdings in the firms within one year.
The state will notify the affected firms, asking them to stop prohibited operations within 90 days.
“This is a message that’s long overdue,” said Attorney General Bill McCollum.
“It’s a model for our country, for other states, and I think it’s awfully important that we take this action,” Crist said.
Steve Bousquet can be reached at [email protected] or (850) 224-7263.
© 2007 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/20/news_pf/Business/_Florida_cuts_ties_to.shtml
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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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