It wasn't fifty million dollars, and no one can say for sure it was Shell

international | environment | other press Friday August 10, 2007 20:48 by Moscow News Reader

Bribery offer linked to Sakhalin project

In a story from the Moscow News today, the deputy head of Russia's environmental agency denied that Shell had tried to bribe him by offering him fifty million dollars.

He wanted to state clearly that he couldn't say for sure that it was Shell, only that "someone" had tried to arrange a meeting with him in Switzerland to discuss the possibility of suspending enviromental checks on the Sakhalin project. No actual amount of money was mentioned either. So that's clear then.

It all brings to mind our own Frank Fahy, a former teacher who has managed to amass a huge property portfolio. Didn't Frank have some Moscow links of his own at one stage? see also www.indymedia.ie/article/76360

Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of Russia's osprirodnadzor environmental watchdog denied Thursday that he'd been offered a $50-million kickback by oil major Shell in exchange for halting environmental checks at the Shell-led Sakhalin-2 offshore oil and gas project in Russia's Far East.

"I received no letter from Shell offering a $50-million bribe," Mitvol told RIA Novosti.

On Thursday, Moscow's Tvoi den tabloid carried an interview with Mitvol quoting him as saying that he had been approached by Shell and offered the money to suspend the checks.

The official did admit, though, that he had been approached by some middlemen, "but definitely not Shell" with a proposal "to meet in Switzerland" and discuss the issue.

The actual amount of money was never mentioned, he added.

"Why should I have asked how much they were ready to offer if I wasn't going to take any of it?" the official said.

The official added that he had tried to explain to the author of the article that Shell was not involved in offering a bribe, but "apparently, the desire to write something sensational was stronger than the desire to write the truth."

Mitvol also said that the project operator, Sakhalin Energy, did make an attractive job offer to a member of the inspection team, an employee of Russia's Natural Resources Ministry.

The offer included a $30,000 monthly salary and authorization to run a $1.8 million budget for an advertising project. According to Mitvol, the employee, who's making 40,000 rubles (slightly over $1,500) a month in his current job, rejected the offer.

Following a series of tough environmental checks and constant pressure from authorities, Shell and project co-owners Mitsui and Mitsubishi agreed in April to cede parts of their stakes in Sakhalin Energy to gas giant Gazprom, which eventually took control of the project as the majority shareholder.

Moscow News