Front page / Business
10/04/2007 17:29 Source: AP ©
Eivind Reiten, the chairman of oil company StatoilHydro ASA will resign due to an investigation of possible corruption over contracts in Libya.
“Out of consideration to StatoilHydro, I have after careful consideration decided that it is right for me to stand down from my position as chairman of the board of StatoilHydro,” Reiten said.
The new company was created by state-controlled Statoil’s takeover of the oil and gas division of smaller Norwegian rival Norsk Hydro, and is 62.5 percent Norwegian government-owned. The companies earlier said it will be the world’s largest offshore oil and natural gas producer, surpassing Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
On Monday – its first day as a listed company – StatoilHydro announced it was calling an external investigation of contracts in Libya that it took over as part of the acquisition of Norsk Hydro’s oil and gas unit. The contracts would be examined for possible violations of Norwegian or international law.
Reiten said he decided to step down to avoid a conflict of interest because he is also chief executive of Norsk Hydro, which is now a pure aluminum and power generation company. In a separate announcement, StatoilHydro said its current deputy chairman, Marit Arnstad, will take over the chair until a replacement is elected.
In an earlier statement, Norsk Hydro ASA said it had taken over those contracts in 1999 as part of its acquisition of Saga Petroleum ASA, which was then Norway’s No. 3 oil company. Norsk Hydro said it unsuccessfully sought to sell the interests in 2000 and 2001 “because Hydro could not ensure that the agreements were in compliance with Hydro’s ethical guidelines.”
The corruption investigation was one of several high-profile cases to hit Norsk Hydro and Reiten in recent months. In August, Norsk Hydro board chairman Jan Reinaas stepped down after facing harsh criticism over the board paying huge options settlements to Reiten and other top leaders to clear the books before the Statoil takeover.
Shortly afterward, Reiten’s chief communications officer, Cecilie Ditlev-Simonsen, resigned after acknowledging that she failed to inform tax authorities of an inheritance from her mother in a Swiss bank account.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he respected Reiten’s decision “to handle a serious matter in the correct way.”
The new StatoilHydro group has about 31,000 employees. Reiten will remain chief executive of Norsk Hydro, which has about 25,000 workers.
http://english.pravda.ru/news/business/04-10-2007/98226-StatoilHydro_chairman-0
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.
