Lundin Petroleums answer
The wealthy oil family Lundin are accused of having contributed to war crimes in Sudan. The scandal includes Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.
The questions were sent via email til Aftenbladet according to Lundin Petroleum's wishes.
1. ECOS accuses Lundin of being an accessory to war crimes in Sudan.
“None of Lundin Petroleum's current or former directors or CEOs is named in this investigation. Nevertheless, the company wishes to cooperate with prosecutors. We are advised against commenting on the company's past operations in Sudan given that the matter is still under investigation.”
“The company did a good job in the country and helped to improve the lives of the population. It was a requirement of the block 5 consortium that its operations were conducted in a peaceful manner. Meetings with key people in the communities indicated that they wished the oil activities welcome, and that they were seen as the only way to promote long-term economic development. As long as the block 5 consortium was involved in activities in Sudan, it engaged in the local community through dialogue with interested parties, in community development, and in humanitarian aid projects.
http://www.lundin-petroleum.com/Documents/cr_open_letter_08-06-10_e.pdf
2. ECOS believes that oil companies must pay USD 300 million to the victims of war in the area in Sudan referred to. Will you be complying with this requirement?
http://www.lundin-petroleum.com/Documents/cr_open_letter_08-06-10_e.pdf
3. Lundin has operated business in many countries over the years and several are dictatorships. According to publicly available information, has Adolf Lundin said Lundin cannot limit their activities to countries without political risk?
http://www.lundin-petroleum.com/eng/corporate_responsibility.php
4. In the ECOS report, it is written that Lundin signed a deal with the government of Sudan on oil field 5A, which the government had no control over. Should you have done this, seen in retrospect?
http://www.lundin-petroleum.com/Documents/cr_open_letter_08-06-10_e.pdf
5. ECOS leader Egbert G. Ch. Wesselink says Lundin should have understood that oil production in Block 5A triggered the civil war.
http://www.lundin-petroleum.com/Documents/cr_open_letter_08-06-10_e.pdf
6. Mark Curtis at UK Christian Aid accused the Lundin board directly in March 2001 for having financed the construction of a road, which made it easier to move troops and weapons, and an airstrip that was used by bombers in the war.
7. In the same telephone conversation with Lundin's board in 2001, Mark Curtis claimed that Lundin had a former militia member and person for horrific human rights violations on the payroll until 1999. Is this correct?
8. Why did Lundin not follow Christian Aid’s 2001 call for Lundin’s board to pull the company out of Sudan immediately? Swedish insurance giant Folksam also confirms that the reports of human rights violations came right at the very beginning of the 2000s.
9. Egbert Wesselink believes that Lundin used blood money from the sale of Block 5A to build itself up on the Norwegian Continental Shelf via acquisition of DNO’s Norwegian assets (the latter according to Lundin’s quarterly report from 2003).
“This is an incorrect claim which tries to draw attention away from the hard work that has been carried out by the Norwegian team in Lundin Petroleum during the last decade. This team, which consists of 200 people, has built up the Norwegian operations.”
http://www.lundin-petroleum.com/Documents/cr_open_letter_08-06-10_e.pdf
10. Mr Wesselink thinks that directors under investigation cannot sit on the board as long as the investigation is ongoing?
“None of Lundin Petroleum's current or former directors or CEOs has been named in this investigation.
http://www.lundin-petroleum.com/Documents/cr_open_letter_08-06-10_e.pdf
http://www.lundin-petroleum.com/Documents/ot_corp_23-06-10_info_e.html
- Database Search
- Unpaid Debt A comprehensive overview of the role of the Lundin Consortium in the oil war. ECOS calls upon the Swedish, Austrian and Malaysian governments to investigate whether, as a matter of international law, Lundin, OMV and Petronas 'were complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity by others during the period 1997-2003.’ In response, the Swedish Public Prosecutor for International crimes opened a criminal investigation into ‘links between Sweden and the reported crimes’.
- In Depth For more specific information about the Lundin court case please visit the Unpaid Debt dossier.
