Six deaths in Sudan and South Sudan are linked-by the relatives of the persons-to the trial against Lundin Oil peaks. They suspect that they have been murdered because of the legal process.
– The car drove towards us at very high speed. The driver steered against James and drove him from the right. Another white car came from nowhere and drove him again, says Bateah Kuong.
James Mut Kuong was killed in Sudan’s capital Khartoum in the fall of 2018. Before that, he had met people with connection to the Lundinbolaget, who tried to persuade him to witness on their side, says his brother Bateah Kuong.
At the same time, Lundinbolaget had two consultants in place in Khartoum, with the task of finding people who could testify for the company, in the ongoing legal process. The consultants would also identify and map the prosecutor’s witnesses.
Connections to the security service
In a leaked material from inside the company, the facts can see how the consultants searched for James Mut Kuong and got help from a Sudanese man with connections to the security service, to find him.
Bateah Kuong says that they traveled together from the hometown to Khartoum and that his brother thought he would get a good job. But that it turned out that the promised assignment consisted of witnessing Lundin. James Mut said no and according to his brother he feared the consequences.
When he was driven to death, Bateah Kuong was included.
– I kept his head in my lap. He did not die directly. And he said ‘they drove me on purpose,’ Bateah Kuong says.
The company definitely rejects
In the leaked material that Cold Facts took part in, there are no calls from anyone at Lundinbolaget to use threats or violence against humans. The company firmly rejects that they have had something to do with unauthorized testimony. They write that they have always worked according to the highest ethical and professional standards.
In total, six deaths have been reported, where relatives suspect that they have been murdered because of links to the legal process against the Lundin Oil peaks.
The review in brief – here is the evidence
In Kalla Facts Program ‘Lundinfallet – silent all witnesses’ it appears that:
About 40 people, witnesses or their relatives, have reported that they have been subjected to serious threats and violence, with the aim of getting them to withdraw their testimonies. In total, there are almost 400 reported impact attempts. Swedish prosecutors consider the stories as credible.
Those who have been exposed to threats and violence point out a number of people, Sudanese and South Sudanese, as perpetrators.
In the leaked material Cold Facts took part in, from within the Lundinbolaget, we can see that Lundin’s consultants collaborated with and hired these persons, when they tracked and mapped witnesses.
The designated perpetrators who have called Kalla facts have interviewed, tell how they acted on behalf of Lundin’s consultants, or on behalf of a Sudanese man; Mohamed Dali.
Dali was contracted in the work with “Lundin Investigation Team” where witnesses were sought. He reported directly to one of the Lundin consultants.
Two of the designated perpetrators say that the purpose of looking for witnesses was that they would be brought to Khartoum where they could be killed.
Mohamed Dali is identified by a number of people like the ‘spider in the net’, when it comes to searching for witnesses and forcibly trying to get them to refrain from testifying against Ian Lundin in Stockholm District Court. He himself denies that he has ever used violence in his work for Lundinbolaget.
Kalla facts have taken part in a material showing how the Lundinbolaget’s chief lawyer Henrika Frykman has repeatedly taken part in information that witnesses have been subjected to serious threats. Nevertheless, a decision was made in the company that the consultants were allowed to continue the work of mapping witnesses “Unless We get to the point where we belief the risks outweigh the benefits”.
Lundinbolaget has determined all information that they would have engaged in unauthorized testimony and emphasizes that they have always acted according to the highest ethical and professional standards in their work.
Lund Fall
Who wants to silence those who will testify against the oil billionaire Ian Lundin? Cold facts follow in the perpetrators’ tracks and have access to an unexpected leak.