Comment on OPL 245 scandal by Bill Campbell, retired HSE Group Auditor, Royal Dutch Shell International
My experience after many years especially as an Auditor for the then SIEP and then RDS is that compliance with the aforestated principles diminishes exponentially the nearer you get to the Boardroom.
Cannot see why a prosecution could not go ahead and be successful, it appears abundantly clear from the correspondence that handouts to certain individuals would be required to secure a deal and many senior officers in the RDS organisation were aware of this and were complicit indirectly or directly. Their defence may be well that’s what it takes to operate with Nigeria but that is not a pertinent defence in international law and dare I state the obvious that this behaviour is a million miles from the intent of those wonderfully worded but completely ignored business principles that all in RDS from Chairman to office boy are supposed to hold as sacrosanct. My experience after many years especially as an Auditor for the then SIEP and then RDS is that compliance with the aforestated principles diminishes exponentially the nearer you get to the Boardroom. Time will tell.