Representatives of the Swedish oil company Lundin Energy, formerly Lundin Oil, are being prosecuted for aiding and abetting a serious violation of international law in what was then Sudan around the turn of the millennium, and a huge 1.5-year lawsuit awaits. The indictment is about the oil company’s management being suspected of having contributed to militias forcing over 100,000 residents to flee and killing tens of thousands, where Lundin found oil.
Following the announcement of the prosecution, the news came that Lundin Energy was selling its oil assets to the Norwegian oil company Aker BP.
According to the reports, the purchase contravenes the guidelines contained in the OECD for multinational companies, which include respect for human rights. The member countries have committed themselves to maintaining them, describes Olof Björnsson, investigator at Swedwatch.
– They must know how their activities affect people and contribute to victims receiving compensation for their suffering and injuries. With this deal, the capital that would be needed to compensate the victims in Sudan is transferred to Aker BP, while the responsibility for compensating them remains with Lundin Energy. Then we mean that Aker complicates that process, says Olof Björnsson and continues:
– Lundin’s assets in Norway were purchased with profits from operations in Sudan. When the indictment against Lundin was brought, it became clear just how dark the company’s past in Sudan is. Through this deal, Aker also chooses to enter into this situation and that is regrettable.
According to estimates from the organization Pax would need more than SEK 7 billion to compensate the victims. The deal should not be completed until Aker has commissioned an independent investigation into how much capital needs to be invested, according to Björnsson.
Robert Eriksson, press officer at Lundin Energy, writes in an email that they remain convinced that “the defense and the extensive shortcomings in the conduct of the preliminary investigation will be taken into account in a possible future court process to establish that our representatives did nothing wrong”.
“Although we do not see that there are any circumstances in which a fine, forfeiture of alleged financial benefits or any claims for compensation is to be paid, the value of the remaining assets will exceed any obligations – should they arise against all odds. The obligations that may arise remain with us ”.
Tore Langballe, communications manager at Aker BP, writes in an email to DN that the deal has nothing to do with the lawsuit about Sudan.
Aker BP actively raised issues about the human rights situation in Sudan with Lundin as part of the transaction process. Lundin Energy has confirmed before and after the transaction that it will have the same potential liabilities related to the Sudan case as before the merger, and will continue to be a robust company ”.
DN has applied to the OECD’s Norway Office.
Background. The case of Lundin Oil in Sudan
The investigation against Lundin Energy has been ongoing since 2010 and concerns the time when the company, which was then called Lundin Oil, was looking for oil in what was then Sudan 1997-2003. According to reports from, among others, the UN, Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders, thousands were killed and more than 100,000 were put on the run when the military attacked people in the area called Block 5A, where the Swedish oil company operated.
The oil company representatives are suspected of having contributed to the attacks, by concluding an agreement on the oil with the military regime that is supposed to have carried them out, and also concluding an agreement to let the regime be responsible for the security arrangement in the area.
The preliminary survey of 80,000 pages is one of Sweden’s most comprehensive ever.
In November, charges were brought for aiding and abetting a serious violation of international law against Ian Lundin, then chairman of the oil company, and board member Alex Schneiter.
The trial is expected to last at least 1.5 years.
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