By Andrew Hill
Published: June 9 2009 03:00 | Last updated: June 9 2009 03:00
Jeroen van der Veer is an honourable man, so it wouldn’t do to call into question his motive in calling for changes to the way executives are rewarded. But the Royal Dutch Shell boss – whose own pay was criticised at his last shareholder meeting – is still guilty of pulling up the ladder behind him. Sad though it may be, his long experience makes him an unlikely – and probably doomed – reformer.
He starts with the disadvantage that he has enjoyed the fruits of the system. Remuneration committees are mainly populated by directors who have benefited from the decisions of such committees at their own companies. The suggestion Mr van der Veer can use them as the launchpad for his campaign is as credible as MPs starting a movement for expenses reform from a floating duck-house.
Assume, however, Mr van der Veer does manage to mount a campaign. Having declared his hand, he will surely find his efforts cut short. As Warren Buffett, the US investor and arch-critic of pay without performance, pointed out a few years ago: “I’ve been on 19 boards and only been on compensation committees once – at Salomon [the investment bank]. They outvoted me two to one.”
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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.
