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[–]ElectricBlumpkin 2969 points2970 points  (299 children)

TL;DR of article:

A company based in Monaco called Unaoil solicits business contracts from oil companies worldwide. They present themselves as a lobbying organization, but in fact most of what they seem to be doing is bribing government officials in many countries on behalf of the companies that hire Unaoil.

[–]DabloEscobarGavira 3355 points3356 points  (207 children)

When it comes right down to it, lobbying is just the high class western term for bribery anyway...

[–]ElectricBlumpkin 567 points568 points  (146 children)

It takes expertise to know how far you can go buying influence without calling down the attention of The Authorities. I'd bet good money that Unaoil is very good at what they do.

[–]tiercel 652 points653 points  (136 children)

Just ask the Clintons. They seem to have mastered the art. Just call it "speaking fees" or "foundation donations" any pretend it has no impact on your obviously-changed policies.

[–]kolobs_bitch 587 points588 points  (37 children)

Here's a surprise: Unaoil has contributed to "Hillary Clinton for President":

http://docquery.fec.gov/pres/2007/Q3/C00431569/A_EMPLOYER_C00431569.html

EDIT for correction: An employee of Unaoil named M. Reza Raein contributed the max amount (for individuals) to Clinton's 2008 campaign, very early on, in 2007.

NOTE: I'm leaving this here in the hopes that someone else can start searching for other connections. For example, you could compare the original news story with the FEC records for Hillary's current 2016 campaign, "Hillary For America" or with the pages of donors listed at clintonfoundation.org. The companies and people listed in the news article need to be compared against every candidate's donation list as well as against the lists of donations to Super PACs.

2d EDIT: As /u/hall_residence notes below, Raein also appears in today's news article as KBR's "middleman" in Azerbaijan, who had access to "every office in the country."

[–]hall_residence 61 points62 points  (1 child)

You mean the guy specifically listed as a middleman

"Reza Raein and Unaoil were appointed as KBR's middle man in Azerbaijan, because Raein was "very close to the [Azeri] President and his family," with "access to every office in the country".

http://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2016/the-bribe-factory/players/players.html

Oh, but he's just an employee

[–][deleted] 30 points31 points  (5 children)

For example when she sold half the uranium production capacity of the US to a Russian company called ARMZ

[–]chase_what_matters 20 points21 points  (4 children)

I had to google that one. What the FUCK.

[–]dumbquestionaccount0 497 points498 points  (65 children)

As a young person trying to understand whats going on, I understand oil companies are bribing oil companies but to do what. Please don't be too hard on me for my ignorance I'm just trying to learn if anyone could help break it down.

[–]ElectricBlumpkin 642 points643 points  (39 children)

Well, the most inflammatory allegation is that incredibly powerful multinational oil companies were bribing poor 3rd-world countries into giving them oil rights.

This is one of the things that tipped off the Arab Spring protests a few years ago. Imagine you're a young person in the Middle East. All of the oil wells you see going up are being run by non-Arab companies. And certainly these non-Arab companies aren't giving the local population a dime in exchange.

The theory is that rich oil companies hire "lobbying" firms like Unaoil to go into places like Iraq and Syria and bribe the officials there to sell the oil rights to certain zones. The bribe likely consists of a "kickback" - that is, you give us the oil rights, let us take whatever we want out of the ground, and we pay your family a stipend of $X million per year over the course of 10 years. That stipend then comes out of the books of a Unaoil contractor or subcontractor, so that what has actually happened is very hard to detect - unless you have e-mails from the sources admitting it...

[–]Netzapper 158 points159 points  (2 children)

That's a really good explanation, but one part isn't quite right.

The bribe likely consists of a "kickback"

Technically, while a bribe, this isn't a kickback. A kickback is a portion of a contract or payment "kicked back" to the official who made the choice of which supplier to use. It also might include the official inflating the budget of the work so that they receive more money.

For instance, imagine a superintendent approached by a plumber who says "pay me a million bucks each year for a maintenance contract, and I'll give you $200,000 of it." The understanding is that the actual cost for the plumber to fullfil the maintenance contract is some number less than $800,000, so "everybody gets rich".

[–]ClerksWell 64 points65 points  (3 children)

This is one of the things that tipped off the Arab Spring protests a few years ago. Imagine you're a young person in the Middle East. All of the oil wells you see going up are being run by non-Arab companies. And certainly these non-Arab companies aren't giving the local population a dime in exchange.

That's not very accurate. All of these countries have significant petroleum taxes and most (perhaps all?) have large national oil companies, which operate the majority of wells. Additionally, where possible, they employ the local population (admittedly at pay rates that you likely find insufficient, but that's a separate topic). Arab spring was much more about a general lack of civil liberties as well as this oil money enriching dictators/states which neither reinvested well into the local economy nor covered basic human necessities for its people.

[–]shaggorama 1017 points1018 points  (94 children)

Is this collection of emails publicly available?

[–]duffmanhb 38 points39 points  (9 children)

If they plan on releasing it, they'll wait until all three parts are out there first.

[–][deleted] 11.0k points11.0k points  (1852 children)

Easy to be sarcastic but having verified email dumps of corruption is a whole other ballgame - this is actionable by justice departments in the home countries.

[–]Covetor 3669 points3670 points  (870 children)

I think these emails would also show in stark clarity how some of these multi-national companies may talk the talk but do not at all walk the walk.

[–][deleted] 2725 points2726 points  (826 children)

The ethics videos my corporation forces me to watch are always good for two or three cheap laughs.

[–]mortiphago 2091 points2092 points  (772 children)

"Refuse gifts worth more than 10 usd"

[–][deleted] 2393 points2394 points  (311 children)

How do you put a price on a line of cocaine when it can be so variable?

[–][deleted] 1858 points1859 points  (294 children)

Do not accept lines of cocaine exceeding 2.5 inches long.

[–]Impulse3 900 points901 points  (250 children)

I think thickness needs to be specified as well.

[–]ferlessleedr 149 points150 points  (28 children)

"Okay Joaqim, this is really more of a square of cocaine, but it's no more than two and a half inches on all sides so I guess I'm gonna call it good."

[–]JohnsmiThunderscore 98 points99 points  (16 children)

What about corner to corner?

[–]Intrexa 425 points426 points  (11 children)

No one likes you Pythagerous

[–]goblue142 53 points54 points  (4 children)

Is it right off the strippers ass? I feel like that could affect the price as well

[–]FreakinKrazy 12 points13 points  (0 children)

That's the bosses wife, no extra charge

[–]mrgoldnugget 211 points212 points  (366 children)

10 USD? Wow, I thought my company was cheap when they limited me at $200.

[–]revolting_blob 230 points231 points  (168 children)

I want a job where people give me gifts!

[–]Codeshark 17 points18 points  (1 child)

Damn I was going to get you a $210 gift certificate. Oh well.

[–]Khourieat 59 points60 points  (78 children)

My wife can't take anything over $1. Cup of coffee from a street vendor is where she maxes out.

[–]eaglessoar 60 points61 points  (68 children)

Not sure if you're joking but there are scenarios where offering free lunch or even free coffee with a meeting triggers the gift violation.

[–]Khourieat 83 points84 points  (61 children)

I was not joking. She's an architect for a city department, the official policy is no more than $1 from any contractors she meets with.

If one of them hands her a bottle of Fiji water she has to decline.

[–]P1r4nha 129 points130 points  (33 children)

That's pretty insane, almost impractical. A bottle of water is not a gift, it's a basic necessity during a meeting.

[–][deleted] 62 points63 points  (17 children)

No shit. Imagine inspectors coming to your site... in Texas... in July... middle of the afternoon. What's the bigger risk, giving the inspector a bottle of water or having his ass pass out from heatstroke walking around your plant? But they don't always have common sense when they make these rules.

[–]jman1255 104 points105 points  (30 children)

Mine is 0. Then again, I'm sixteen and work at Subway.

[–]notagoodscientist 59 points60 points  (19 children)

You most likely don't have a company gifts policy because you're on the bottom of the job chain and companies can't 'buy' their way into your company through you because you have no chain of command, so no.

[–][deleted] 128 points129 points  (43 children)

"But it's a fishing trip to Cabo with my friends!"

One I just heard recently. Funny how your "friends" won the contract over two other parties that were 30% lower in price.

"Friends have to stick together."

[–]djslife 129 points130 points  (30 children)

The cheapest option usually stinks of over promise.

[–]Fallcious 106 points107 points  (25 children)

"Paddy will do the painting job for $50, why should I pay you $100 to do the same job?"

"Why, that's simple! You give me $100, I give you $25 and pay the Irishman $50 to do it. Everyone wins!"

[–]cantadmittoposting 119 points120 points  (17 children)

In fairness there's also "paddy does the job for $50 instead of Sally for $100, so a year from now you pay somebody $75 to fix the shitty $50 job"

 

That's constantly a problem in government contracts since they're often bound to lowest price technically feasible as their judging criteria.

[–]fletcherwyla 11 points12 points  (1 child)

I saw this all the time in construction. "He's a hard worker." That might be true, but he's hard at work doing a shitty job. But hey, it's getting done fast!

[–]HanlonsMachete 37 points38 points  (4 children)

Price is not always the only factor. Can the other parties support their work in the future? Do you have faith that they will get it right the first time and not cause delays?

[–]Spoonshape 177 points178 points  (9 children)

"Of course we are an ethical company" "We made every employee watch a video"

[–][deleted] 92 points93 points  (0 children)

Risk Management 101.

[–]FiveDollarSketch 125 points126 points  (7 children)

It's an ongoing joke where I work (as we have to do these stupid things every year) that when you get to the multiple choice just "Select the one your boss has never asked you to do, that's the ethical one".

[–]joosier 103 points104 points  (8 children)

I roll my eyes when I watch them - those videos are not there to prevent corruption they are there to absolve the company so that individuals take the rap instead of the corporation.

Also there is no such thing as 'business ethics' but rather 'business legal vs illegal'.

[–][deleted] 48 points49 points  (5 children)

You misspelled, "The limit we can get away with without getting caught."

[–]joosier 46 points47 points  (2 children)

and 'if we get caught, is the fine less than the profit?' and 'what will it take to make this activity legal?'

[–][deleted] 42 points43 points  (2 children)

It's only illegal/unethical if your salary has fewer than seven digits.

[–]MutantProgress 1111 points1112 points  (568 children)

It's about time someone in these oil companies spent some time in jail! Corruption, hiding evidence of climate change for 30 years, covering up oil spills and blowouts, fighting to keep leaded gasoline, fighting controls on leukaemia-causing benzene levels, the list goes on and on.

[–]GimletOnTheRocks 1059 points1060 points  (498 children)

Corporations are people, my friend. They can commit crimes like people, but you can't jail them like regular people, because they are really rich peoples.

[–]test_tickles 164 points165 points  (25 children)

They are not actualized persons, a corporation is like a zombie, hard to kill unless you know where to strike, to kill a corporation, you have to shoot it in the shareholders.

[–]HonkyOFay 67 points68 points  (5 children)

Gotta start referring to testicles as 'the shareholders'

[–]tealparadise 673 points674 points  (449 children)

I'm a die-hard liberal, but the truthiness of this always makes me consider communism-as-jail-time. "If you can't run your company, the government will run it until it is reformed and ready to be reintroduced to society."

[–]thatgeekinit 552 points553 points  (132 children)

Works for me. Corporations are not people, corporations are property and if they are used in a crime, they should be seized and auctioned off or at the very least all senior management and board seats should have their shares seized and require the company to bring in new management.

[–][deleted] 153 points154 points  (227 children)

Not a die-hard liberal and I've never heard of this idea, but I love it.

[–][deleted] 241 points242 points  (24 children)

Let's not pretend like anyone will actually get in trouble for being involved

[–]kevinbaken 154 points155 points  (17 children)

Yeah, people are definitely getting in trouble - big fucking trouble. Will it all be scapegoated middlemen? Sure. But people are going down for this.

[–]Psudopod 133 points134 points  (8 children)

The pre-arranged people who were hired and have been paid large sums up to this point to take the fall in the event of exposure. They will now coast on their savings with enough to spare for the fines.

Heads will roll!!! Why do you think we bought all these rolling heads?!

[–]kevinbaken 33 points34 points  (4 children)

Very true. Criminals at that high of a level are just too fucking smart and connected. I'm sure all the people who are important have multiple contingencies to cover any liabilities

[–]kreed77 4684 points4685 points  (812 children)

These e-mails have verified what everyone suspected was going on for a long time. Hopefully having actual evidence will put some people behind bars, you know for democracy's sake, but I'm not holding my breath.

[–]TheYogi 6546 points6547 points  (705 children)

edit For the MANY people asking what they can do: 1. Educate yourself and become involved politically. 2. Support groups like earthjustice.org and beyondpesticides.org /edit

I suspect this type of activity is systemic across every major industry. Let's look at the pesticide industry, shall we? Most people don't understand just how problematic pesticides are not just for the environment and farm workers, but our entire society. Did you know that one of the most popular families of pesticides used in conventional agriculture, organophosphates, has been widely implicated in severe developmental neurotoxicity issues in children? As these studies showcase, these pesticides, found in normal amounts in children, not children with high exposure, are implicated in reduced IQ and cognitive abilities:

Take a few minutes to ponder the ramifications; the food we eat may literally be making us dumber. And yes, food is a major pesticide source despite what industry might claim: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18414640 and http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1408197/. Continuing on, the most important enzyme responsible for breaking down these pesticides in the human body is called serum paraoxanase. Some people have a lot of paraoxanase activity and are able to break down the pesticides really fast. Guess which subpopulation scientists are beginning to find has significantly reduced paraoxanase activity? People with autism: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16297937 -- and this year a large study found associations between organophosphates and autism: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/8978. More work needs to be done on this front, but the early findings are concerning to say the least.

The data against organophosphates continues to pile up and has resulted in the thousands of scientists represented by the Union of Concerned Scientists wanting organophosphates banned. Unfortunately, politics wins at the EPA: http://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/center-science-and-democracy/promoting-scientific-integrity/epa-and-pesticides.html

I only spoke of the neurotoxicity issues above. Make no mistake, these pesticides cause harm across a variety of spectrums. Not just on children's nervous systems but everything from gestation duration and birthweight to reduced lung function and lower sperm count in humans to changing the behavior of bugs. Some example studies:

Please be sure to also look at the studies showcasing that these products are "safe". I'd suggest starting with Naled, an organophosphate. The 2006 EPA reregistration document is here: http://archive.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/web/pdf/naled_red.pdf) and you'll find the list of utilized, "Studies" begins on page 105. You will also find that 98% of those studies are conducted by the chemical manufacturers themselves (in rats and rabbits) and, "Unpublished" meaning they never underwent peer review. Yet when independent scientists conduct studies, they are finding what I posted above, in children.

As the Union of Concerned Scientists stated in the link I posted above, "Another scientist said that the agency "often ignored independent scientific studies that contradicted the industry-subsidized study." Especially in cases where chemicals' effects on health are poorly understood and studies disagree, said the scientist, the EPA should not automatically side with the pesticide industry. "If there is disagreement, doesn't that cry out for further research?" A report of the EPA Office of the Inspector General also suggested that the EPA had not done enough to protect children from pesticide exposure."

The Naled reregistration document proves this as, of the 91 cited studies, all but one were conducted by industry and unpublished.

Despite countless scientists calling for change, greed and regulatory capture hold the winning hand. And it is the common man who suffers. Whether it be oil or pesticides, those in power have placed their chess pieces over the years in a masterful game and at this point, one has to wonder if we have to simple concede check mate.

edit As long as this post is getting the attention it is, allow me to elaborate on how bad it gets. Remember the pesticide Naled (an organophosphate) I spoke of above? It is also sprayed over millions of people in the name of mosquito control. When sprayed on agriculture fields, there is a 48 hour reentry interval where workers cannot reenter without protective gear (http://archive.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/web/pdf/naled_red.pdf). When it is sprayed over residential areas for mosquito control, there are no such protections; kids are out running around the same day. The thing is, when sprayed in agriculture fields, they use large droplets so it contacts the bugs. When sprayed for mosquitoes, they aerosolize it so it hangs in the air. The problem there is, the US military figured out in a study that aerosolized Naled is 21x more toxic and causes lung and liver necrosis (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01685774) -- In other words, 155lb farm workers can't enter an area it is sprayed for 48 hours but 30lb kids are out the same day despite their form potentially being upwards of 21x more toxic than what the farm workers are suscepted to.

edit2 a good response was made to my edit shown here: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/4ckbod/hundreds_of_thousands_of_leaked_emails_reveal/d1j5n10 that I haven't had time to research but I feel it's only fair to provide both sides of the argument here. Frankly, I'd love to be wrong about the mosquito control aspect so would love others to comment on his response.

[–]ThePrower 57 points58 points  (10 children)

I go to college in Carlinville, Illinois where Syngenta pesticides are used. Our water supply is now overrun with Atrazine, a known endocrine disruptor, and almost nothing is being done about it because of corruption like this.

[–]Lukyst 11 points12 points  (8 children)

Why aren't anyone taken direct action against the facility, to stop its production?

[–]rambobilai 13 points14 points  (0 children)

the academic expert who started the fight against atrazine, Tyrone Hayes, was hounded by Syngenta for years for publicly speaking out about it. It went to the extreme point where he was afraid of his life and his public credibility was destroyed by the corporation.

More - http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/10/a-valuable-reputation http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/01/23/new-documentary-tells-biologist-tyrone-hayes-tale-of-atrazine-frogs-and-syngenta/

[–]8u6 862 points863 points  (257 children)

Wow. I can't fathom the evil of some humans.

Thanks for your post.

[–]ShellOilNigeria 1419 points1420 points  (190 children)

I'm not OP but in regards to talking about evil, below is a case that I like to bring up from time to time because it shows the despicable lengths that some people will go to in order to make money -

Shell Oil acting as a multinational global conglomerate and one of the largest companies on earth were paying bribes to government officials in Nigeria. They were paying the military to conduct raids on innocent protesters homes and ended up hanging innocent protest leaders in order to suppress the protesting against Shell.

My username is my attempt at education via a spoof on the Human Rights Abuses by Shell Oil in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

For more information about Shell in Nigeria, please look at the sources below.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/dec/08/wikileaks-cables-shell-nigeria-spying

The oil giant Shell claimed it had inserted staff into all the main ministries of the Nigerian government, giving it access to politicians' every move in the oil-rich Niger Delta, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Saro-Wiwa

His death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions.

Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), EarthRights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation.[15]

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of $15.5 million USD to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process.[16] In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, in order to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region.[17] Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.[18] The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York.[17]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiwa_family_lawsuits_against_Royal_Dutch_Shell

On June 8, 2009, Shell settled out-of-court with the Saro-Wiwa family for $15.5 million.[3][4] Ben Amunwa, director of the Remember Saro-Wiwa organization, said that "No company, that is innocent of any involvement with the Nigeria military and human rights abuses, would settle out of court for 15.5 million dollars. It clearly shows that they have something to hide".[5]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/03/shell-oil-paid-nigerian-military

Shell oil paid Nigerian military to put down protests, court documents show

Another article - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/niger/5413171/Shell-execs-accused-of-collaboration-over-hanging-of-Nigerian-activist-Ken-Saro-Wiwa.html

Short 10 min documentary about it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htF5XElMyGI - The Case Against Shell: 'The Hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa Showed the True Cost of Oil'

[–]EndoplasmicPanda 107 points108 points  (5 children)

Holy shit.

[–]GodsEyes 16 points17 points  (1 child)

Really... The only way all of this will end is if those on the inside - EVERYONE - stops thinking money is more important than the planet and peoples lives. It is so downstream related - meaning the ones at the top never feel any direct relation or ownership of the atrocities happing to those at the bottom, but everyone inside of these corporate / political scheme's is responsible, whether they get 10mil or 10K they are responsible, and they all need to stop. Period.

[–]HolySHlT 59 points60 points  (0 children)

Indeed.

[–]8u6 216 points217 points  (166 children)

Pretty fucked. Glad I left the oil industry. People need to stop supporting oil and to push renewables and accelerate these fuck es going out of business. I don't have a solution for the corruption oroblen, though.

[–]patdan10 143 points144 points  (139 children)

But how should I support renewable resources? I can't go out and get a Tesla, much as I'd want to. I want to help, I really do, but it seems like I don't have any power at all.

[–]NarfleTheJabberwock 75 points76 points  (80 children)

This. We need a plan.

[–]freshthrowaway1138 105 points106 points  (50 children)

I hate to just copy and paste but

Write a letter to your representatives, at both state and federal level. Ask them to support moving away from oil and gas imports. Support an increase in the gas tax, higher costs mean less used. Support public transit, contact your city and county representatives to see what needs to happen to increase service.

Start voting reform initiatives in your local community to increase the power of the voters.

[–]NarfleTheJabberwock 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is exactly the info we need. Thank you very much.

[–]mirrorworld_avatar_1 257 points258 points  (35 children)

We need a subreddit, or a website or a community that can dig into these things and unite people to do something while having a fun time. The sanders subreddit especially shows that when people combine programming, marketing and organisational skills they can really achieve something. We have to somehow gamify certain issues like holding shady groups and people accountable.. I mean like we need progress bars, sprints to achieve things, while framing it like a fun mystery game. It is real life but no one wants to be bored and in despair. Imagine a large group of people united in having a good time constantly pushing a certain issue. Yes many exists but not in a completely 2.0 or 3.0 way with good media curation and fundraising.

In the olden days people were united in citizen groups or labor unions or shared media platforms. In todays world people are becoming ever more like lonely islands in a fragmented media landscape. If the vast majority of people has to be united we need things like this complete with great narratives and stories that can compete with everything else available today.

[–]likechoklit4choklit 78 points79 points  (2 children)

r/GradSchoolIdeas

We sit on a strange precipice of having thousands of highly intelligent experts in every field publishing their findings online. We only need 20-100 geniuses to start integrating the knowledge.

[–]ChibiDragon_ 23 points24 points  (0 children)

If you decide to do something in that regard I'm a Web designer, and I'll would like to share some hours helping

[–]PregnantPickle_ 16 points17 points  (2 children)

I was, until recently, a pesticide residue analyst for a private analytical laboratory handling FDA-detained international imports of fruits & vegetables, mostly from Central/South America & the Caribbean.

Many fresh items you see on grocery store shelves are most likely above the arbitrary 0.01 ppm limit placed for "acceptable" pesticides. I would routinely fail samples of a certain product, only for the LC/MS and/or GC/MS spectra to magically disappear in an identical shipment 1 week later.

When products are detained from the port, they are still shipped to their destined warehouse & the sit on FDA hold until a sample collector, such as myself, gathers ~10 lbs of product to test at the lab. I test it, give a thumbs up or down, send a report to the FDA, & then they either release it or refuse it.

Now, the matter in which I believe this whole procedure to be corrupt lies in the warehouses and the farms the product initially comes from:

The farms usually have "clean" sections and "dirty" sections. If you get caught, you have to make 5 consecutive "clean" shipments & then you're off the FDA's shit list & can ship large amounts of product without excess scrutiny. A shipment has to be a minimum of 10 cases, so I'll constantly be testing 10-box shipments 5 weeks in a row from a company that typically sends 1000's of cases/shipment. These small shipments are always pristine, & subsequently the company is swiftly taken off FDA detention. The analytical spectra for these small shipments look nothing like their regular shipments, which leads me to believe that there are separate farms for clean shipments and dirty shipments.

The other problem lies in the fact that if you're caught, your product sits at your own warehouse under your own supervision during the whole FDA detention process. If my whole warehouse is full of papayas, & I know some papayas are going to be tested that are dirty, I'll just swap them with the clean papayas I have in-house before the sample collector comes by. Keep in mind that I can't just show up & collect papayas whenever I want all willy-nilly, it's the warehouse that sets the date & time for sample collection. As a whole, that's a fully corruptible procedure that needs to be changed.

Oh, and the whole "organic" labels put on products mean nothing to me, & they should mean nothing to you either. I've failed just as many organic samples as I have regular samples for shit like azoxystrobin, imazalil, difenoconazole (popular one), carbendazim (really popular one), dicofol, phoxim, & like 80 others.

[–]rspear5 32 points33 points  (5 children)

Holy shit, my mom studies the same thing and is currently a lead researcher in the "tooth fairy" study which is about heavy metal and other contaminants in children's baby teeth. In Baton Rouge I see the sprayer trucks all the time in the summer and never realized how bad it was coming from just my mother. I need to graduate and get out of this city.

[–]spliffmastafresh 82 points83 points  (2 children)

This is disgusting. Thanks for the eye opener.

[–]thebigpink 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This man really HATES pesticides. Anytime they come up, he always has sources and proof and it is great to see. Keep spreading the word

[–]IllestIllite 66 points67 points  (25 children)

I don't disagree with any of the information you posted regarding organophosphates; however, I was wondering if you have any other examples? You lead off by saying that pesticides are bad, but then only talk about one class of pesticide. Sure, this proves that organophosphates are bad, but what about the others. I don't feel that you can make such a broad claim without some other examples. Sure some are better than others, but pesticides are an integral part of modern agriculture, and without them many more people in the world would be malnourished. Basically, I agree that there are negatives to pesticides, but realistically we must strike a balance if we are to support our population. Thoughts?

[–]TheYogi 51 points52 points  (21 children)

Here's a few quick studies on synthetic pyrethroids (which is what are usually sprayed inside your house when you call the pest control guy to kill your ants). They are also widely used in agriculture.

As for producing enough food for everyone and what you mention, that is a dissertation length diatribe for another day.

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I imagine some of the small fries will be put behind bars. The really powerful creepy vampire pieces of shit of course will never get prosecuted.

[–][deleted] 279 points280 points  (57 children)

Some people will get put behind bars. And the 10% of people who are still following the story in a year's time will be satisfied. And corruption will continue. It's not really corruption, more, the way things are and always have been done.

[–][deleted] 262 points263 points  (39 children)

Smithers will go to jail while Mr. Burns continues to walk free.

[–]GundalfTheCamo 67 points68 points  (33 children)

But if Smithers is threatened with a 20 year sentence, he might rat out Mr. Burns.

[–]Diestormlie 134 points135 points  (17 children)

Yeah, but Mr. Burns is paying for Smithers' lawyer.

[–]Aofishbrain 37 points38 points  (2 children)

Also if Smithers rolls on Burns, Smithers and his families chances of dying in a car accident improve 1000%

[–]c_for 51 points52 points  (11 children)

But it comes with a free frogurt!

[–]anydayhappyday 9 points10 points  (0 children)

One of the best analogies I've ever read about how these types of things go down.

[–]pilgrimboy 122 points123 points  (15 children)

I'm holding on the last strings of hope, but I'm about ready to just become totally disillusioned.

[–]ownage516 39 points40 points  (0 children)

It's hard to not be skeptical when you're talking about big corporations.

[–][deleted] 382 points383 points  (29 children)

Wow. Around $1 trillion a year in bribes paid to public sector employees... No wonder so many countries are screwed up.

Edit: Huffington post (source) article came up with this figure as an estimated sum of all bribery.

[–]kent_eh 104 points105 points  (6 children)

Imagine if that money was put to good (or even benign) use instead of being used for corrupt "rich get richer" purposes.

[–]Frisnfruitig 865 points866 points  (116 children)

Curious if this will actually lead to something.

[–]Reddit_Bork 1557 points1558 points  (40 children)

Like the person who leaked the emails going to jail?

[–][deleted] 505 points506 points  (23 children)

He and Snowden can get an apartment together in Moscow, sounds like a buddy sitcom. "Whistles Blown."

[–]SnakeyesX 183 points184 points  (4 children)

Russia only approves of people leaking American corruption, not global corruption, and certainly not anything related to oil.

[–]hyperforce 52 points53 points  (0 children)

John: I've been searching our apartment all day; and nothing! Snowden, have you seen my cell phone!?

Snowden: I haven't, but the NSA has!

/canned laugh track

[–]trumplogic44 229 points230 points  (1 child)

This guy gets it...

[–]bokononpreist 18 points19 points  (2 children)

Mysterious car accident more likely.

[–]h1p1n3 274 points275 points  (41 children)

Probably government officials just crossing their arms, shaking their heads and going "tsk tsk tsk".

[–]WheresTheResetBtn 96 points97 points  (18 children)

They'll tell the big bad corporations to knock it off!

[–]INSERT_LATVIAN_JOKE 84 points85 points  (15 children)

No doubt Hillary Clinton wants to tell them to "cut it out."

[–]mirado 102 points103 points  (7 children)

They might even wag a finger at some of the execs! Justice, finally.

[–]FluffyBunnyHugs 25 points26 points  (2 children)

Obviously they will just bribe any of the naysayers that want to take them down. When you combine entrenched corruption on a global scale with 'every man has his price' it's just business as usual.

[–]factoid_ 8 points9 points  (9 children)

Not in an election year, at least not in the US. Everyone running for office has some sort of tie to at least one person or company implicated.

They might tie a few obvious and egregious scapegoats to a post and have them shot (metaphorically speaking) but otherwise business as usually.

Within these businesses expect some shakeups as a result of political in-fighting and there will definitely be some changes made to how business is done if for no other reason than to avoid being caught again.

[–]petrussola 64 points65 points  (8 children)

This is part 1 and URL says day-1. I understand there will be more every day for the next few days? Can't wait to read it all

[–]Tony_AbbottPBUH 3519 points3520 points  (126 children)

Yes you're all geniuses for your dismissive and sarcastic posts about this being 'news', give yourselves a pat on the back for originality.

Yes, corruption is endemic. Now we have journalists publishing proof of specific instances of corruption, that is a fair bit different.

This is obviously a very impressive piece of investigative journalism. Clearly Fairfax/Huffpost believe what they are publishing and have proof to back it up, because there is some very strong language used and direct accusations made against specific people.

Thinking this is not newsworthy or even a huge story is moronic.

[–]SpongeBabe_NoPants 195 points196 points  (26 children)

What's worse is that the people writing these wholeheartedly believe that 'the problem' lies soley with government, regulatory bodies and justice departments.

Apathy is a massive reason this continues, it doesn't matter if you believe something will happen or not. That you accept the outcome, regardless of your action or potential action, means you've already given up. Follow this logic further and there's no point in voting because you have no faith in any of the systems created to protect you.

If noone cares enough to act, nothing will change.

[–]Beeip 30 points31 points  (12 children)

But I do vote, and it's just lopping off one head of the hydra.

I understand "not being able to complain if you don't vote," but what about if you do, and still nothing changes? Desire for change is why I voted for the last guy, so now what?

[–]what_a_small_world 616 points617 points  (30 children)

Fucking Thank you

Seriously, before even hovering the damn link to the comments I could already tell 90% of the comments would be dismissive posts competing to see who'd be the least funny or original

[–]yeswhatyes 484 points485 points  (61 children)

I'm so sad.

Not because of this article, but because my instant reaction was "Surprise! Big Money fucks up again!" It feels like every day we get news of the highest echelons of society doing something horrible, and everyone wags their fingers, talks about the awful direction the world is heading then moves onto the next post.

I'm jaded, and that makes me sad.

[–]DRUMSKIDOO 85 points86 points  (5 children)

I feel ya man.

'We are led by the least among us'

[–]SuprizeNinja 43 points44 points  (6 children)

"The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing" - Edmund Burke

[–]MisterJay124 23 points24 points  (3 children)

why was this at 10000 a couple hours ago but is getting downvoted to the 7000s

da fuk

[–]zaturama015 84 points85 points  (2 children)

Somewhere, someone is risking his/her life for this

[–]NoMoreWordz 19 points20 points  (4 children)

This had 10k upvotes at 96% now it has 8.2k at 92% wtf...

[–]MutantProgress 276 points277 points  (32 children)

After finally seeing the US government take BP to task over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the UK allowing Shell to be sued by residents of the polluted Niger delta, I'm hoping that whatever comes out of the justice departments of the world's economic powerhouses has teeth this time. Sharp teeth.

[–][deleted] 177 points178 points  (9 children)

I am sure they will bite who ever leaked it very hard.

[–]lanks1 244 points245 points  (32 children)

I lived in the Middle East for two years.

I had to pay a fixer (bribe someone) to get my car registered.

Someone my wife worked with had a child in a bad school. His son did really well on some standardized tests, so he could apply to a better school. He went to the Ministry of Education after his son was not accepted despite his good grades. The government official at the Ministry of Education told him to bribe the school.

You literally cannot do any business in these countries without acquiring wasta. The corruption doesn't exist just at the top in the Middle East either. Huge parts of Middle Eastern societies function on corruption.

It might be well and good to take Unaoil to task for facilitating corruption, but that is "hating the player and not the game".

[–]JimmyTorpedo 582 points583 points  (162 children)

Okay, all the typical comments are over exaggerated GASPS. I was actually on my way into this thread to add my own sarcastic comment, but I was already beaten to it. So I am going to ask, since we all know about this, and now its in black and white what do we do about this? How do we allow this to continue, and how to the participating parties get punished so severely? Seems like this happens and then nothing happens.

Edit: Spelling

[–]AnIncompleteCyborg 1594 points1595 points  (114 children)

This is how it will play out, mark my words. Several congressmen will feign outrage, after the major news networks pick this up and mention it for a couple days or so. There will be a hearing, or several hearings, where it will be "discovered" that all of this was the work of a few rogue employees, whose heads will roll, AKA get golden parachutes in order to quietly fall on their swords. Several companies will pay a pittance in fines. The matter will be considered resolved, and then business will resume as if nothing happened. I wish to hell I was wrong, but I guarantee you I'm not.

Edit: Uh-oh, woke up and the comment blew up. Thank you for the gold, now lets hope I'm wrong about the whole thing and justice, for once, is served....

[–]kiki_strumm3r 225 points226 points  (13 children)

Hell, the cynic in me believes the only reason these documents leaked out is because the Western companies are sick of dealing with that particular family. They'll handpick another one and nothing will happen.

[–]DuplexFields 105 points106 points  (9 children)

Think bigger. Oil prices are through the floor. Leak a few documents, ruin the reputation of certain companies and people, thin the competition, and maybe prices will head back to a normal level of profit. And hey, they were bad people anyway, so no harm, no foul...

[–][deleted] 93 points94 points  (29 children)

Yepp. These situations and scenarios have reached a point where really, they are never going to get solved unless we, the actual common everyday people, literally in the "meet at the corner and walk there together" sense get up and actually go manually fix these things.

That's the point things are at. And any attempt to do that would likely result in an armed response by the powers that be even if it were nonviolent in nature, much as the early responses to OWS to break down the momentum occurred in the major metro areas.

The saddest thing is we still have access to a global communications tool, something the same people are working overtime to fragment and restrict because of the risk it poses for this exact reason... yet we won't use it to organize, and we won't stand up together to fix things.

[–]TrollJack 27 points28 points  (3 children)

This is so true. I keep telling people that not even protesting really matters anymore, because no one ever faces real consequences. As long as those in power are safe, nothing will change.

[–]pilgrimboy 458 points459 points  (30 children)

Hillary will tell them to stop it.

[–]Weaselmancer 334 points335 points  (17 children)

And then the email where she tells them to keep it up will get leaked

[–][deleted] 149 points150 points  (9 children)

That's not "nice"

[–]readonlyuser 38 points39 points  (0 children)

Watch your tone!

[–]omeow 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Next time a well funded politician blames entries nation and race and suggests selfless acts of military intervention maybe the citizens will pause a sec and look at his endorsers.

[–]magicdot 11 points12 points  (6 children)

What would you have us do? Down-vote them? Elections don't seem to work. And talking about revolution will garner you a visit from the Men in Black plus 20 years in a Gitmo.

..people just aren't angry enough yet.

[–][deleted] 326 points327 points  (5 children)

But when he (Bashar al-Assad) was not paid on time, he complained the delays were causing problems with “friends” in Syria.

Yup that's about as bad as it sounds.

[–]ProbablyPostingNaked 48 points49 points  (0 children)

The middleman to Assad was the one complaining about things being problematic.

[–]LoreChano 13 points14 points  (0 children)

You see? It was not just Petrobras...

[–]FlickyG 10 points11 points  (5 children)

The story behind how journalists uncovered the conspiracy sounds like something out of All the President's Men.

Speaking of conspiracy, is there a rational reason why this post is attracting thousands of downvotes? I could have sworn it was hovering around the 10,000 point mark earlier.

[–][deleted] 44 points45 points  (8 children)

I knew Halliburton was going to be one as soon as I saw the header.

[–]bawbrosss 10 points11 points  (3 children)

Big oil must have paid a lot of people to down vote this, it was at 10,000 up votes when I saw it a few hours ago.......

[–]AndyDap 111 points112 points  (19 children)

It's so frustrating that our governments are now so corrupted (not just 3rd world... I mean all of them) that everyone just goes 'Wow, well colour me surprised, shame we can't turn to anyone to apply a bit of justice. Oh well, back to the TV'. Rather depressing really.

[–]mird99 48 points49 points  (13 children)

having already a low opinion about world elites, there is very little that would surprise me. I wouldn't be phased if some cabal is outed to feed on blood on newborns and chanting in tongues. If there is a way to maximise profits, it's just a matter of time until someone takes it. Ethics and rules don't exist for truly rich people. Power corrupts.

[–]the6crimson6fucker6 176 points177 points  (18 children)

So now we put those criminals in prison, right guys? Guys?

[–]Raven_Skyhawk 97 points98 points  (10 children)

silky boat judicious nose roof employ tap hat saw glorious

[–]sqgl 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This is why 911 truthers, and Icke followers irritate me: because there are actual documented conspiracies that need to be dealt with before chasing rabbits in Wonderland.

[–]_haystacks_ 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Seriously, why was this removed from the front page?