By John Donovan
Shell internal email correspondence relating to the OPL 245 oil deal has been very revealing and may seal the fate of defendants in the Italian trial, including the former MI6 people hired by Shell. Their names, Guy Colgate and John Copleston, appeared on the emails.
What investigators may not know is that during the relevant period, Shell Corporate Affairs Security (CAS) purchased multiple unlocked mobile phones which were taken into Nigeria where SIM cards were purchased and used.
Likewise, an alternative communication system using Yahoo was set-up directly between Shell staff so there would be no trail of communication. For example, a single Yahoo account would be established and a single username/password would be shared between those who needed to communicate.
These and other spy-craft security measures of which I am also aware were designed to keep secret important information presumably even more potentially damaging to Shell concerning its machinations in Nigeria.
We can only guess at the content of the internal communications that were destroyed, apparently deemed by Shell even more incriminating and dangerous than the emails that survived.
Shell did not just hire MI6 people. Former SAS, SBS and British Royal Commando’s also worked on secret duties and missions for the shadowy Shell Corporate Affairs Security organisation (AKA Shell Global Security).