Business | Wed Mar 2, 2016
The investment arm of British insurer Standard Life (SL.L) said on Wednesday it would step up its engagement with management at Volkswagen VOWG_P.DE and Royal Dutch Shell RDSA.L over certain concerns it has regarding corporate governance.
In its annual governance and stewardship report Standard Life Investments said it continued to be worried about a lack of independence on the German carmaker’s supervisory board and board committees following the appointment of former Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsche as chairman of the Supervisory Board, in the wake of the firm’s emissions scandal.
The fund manager also said it continued to have concerns at Shell about the auditing of its accounts following the appointment of EY, which also served as auditor of BG, the company taken over by Shell last month.
Standard Life Investments flagged the two companies as candidates for “escalation”, indicating the firm would press the companies on their concerns.
No one at Volkswagen could immediately be reached for comment, while Shell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In its report Standard Life Investments also said it had been influential in achieving governance changes at petroleum firm SOCO International (SIA.L), property manager Grainger (GRI.L) and oil producer EOG Resources (EOG.N).
It said budget airline Ryanair (RYA.L), advertising company WPP (WPP.L), oilfield services company Petrofac (PFC.L), utility services retailer Telecom Plus (TEP.L), miner Anglo American (AAL.L), tourism group Thomas Cook (TCG.L), heart device maker Boston Scientific (BSX.N) and advertising agency Dentsu (4324.T) were all on track to meet objectives concerning governance issues.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Sinead Cruise, Greg Mahlich)
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.
