Thursday

8th Jun 2023

Monaco hunts oil-bribery whistleblower in EU

  • Jonathan Taylor: 'I couldn't have lived with myself if I hadn't spoken out' (Photo: Jonathan Taylor)

A whistleblower who exposed massive bribery at a Monaco-based oil firm is now being hunted in Europe, in a test of its extradition system.

Jonathan Taylor, back in 2013, revealed that his former employer, SBM Offshore, had routinely paid bribes to foreign governments, for instance in Angola, Brazil, and Equatorial Guinea.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

His evidence saw it pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines worldwide and prompted government resignations in Brazil.

But for the past six weeks, Taylor, a British national who lives in the UK, has been stuck in Croatia pending his potential extradition to Monaco on spurious charges.

And his name appears to have been red-flagged in Europe's banking system.

Taylor's ordeal began when he landed in Croatia with his wife and three children for holidays on 30 July.

"They didn't even scan my passport at immigration control, they just looked at some notes they had on A4 paper that were ready and waiting for my arrival, and then they gently marched me off," he told EUobserver from Dubrovnik.

The 51-year old lawyer spent the night in "a state of shock" in a tiny cell with a drug dealer and two violent offenders, he said.

He was arrested, Croatia said, because Monaco had issued an alert via the international police agency, Interpol, on charges he had tried to extort money from his old employer.

And when a friend of his later tried to wire him the 120,000 kuna (€16,000) he needed for his bail via Swiss bank Credit Suisse, the bank blocked the payment with no explanation, Taylor said.

"I've got a lot of enemies," he said.

Monaco is not an EU country, but it is entitled to go after suspects in the EU under the European Convention on Extradition, a 1957 treaty.

The Croatian Supreme Court will now decide Taylor's fate after a lower court already opted to honour Monaco's request, but he appealed.

And neither he or his lawyer, Toby Cadman, believe he would get a fair trial in Monaco if he went there.

"It's very political - SBM Offshore is Monaco's largest private-sector employer and it has close ties to the state," Taylor said.

"It has major offices not 400 metres from the Monégasque prosecutor's office, but the prosecutor has never questioned a single one of its employees [over the bribery revelations]," he said.

"They're trying to discredit me and to show the world that Monaco doesn't put up with whistleblowers, that companies are 'safe' there," he added.

"There's no chance [of a fair trial in Monaco] because of the influence that SBM Offshore has," Cadman also told this website.

"They're trying to silence him [Taylor] and to discourage other whistleblowers and journalists from doing this type of thing," Cadman said.

Rogue principality?

For its part, Monaco's foreign ministry painted a rosier picture of the principality.

"There are no ties between Single Buoy Moorings [SBM Offshore] and the Monaco authorities," it said.

"The government is absolutely not committed in this matter [Taylor's indictment]," it added.

"This affair is a purely judicial matter ... and the government does not interfere. The [Monégasque] judge in charge, the juge d'instruction, runs this affair as he deems appropriate, following Monaco laws," it said.

The oil firm also washed its hands, saying: "SBM Offshore has not pursued legal action against Mr Taylor for several years".

And Credit Suisse declined to comment on the blocked bail money.

But for Taylor, Cadman, and the more than 25 NGOs which signed a recent appeal on Taylor's behalf, his case shows how easily states such as Monaco, and others, can exploit Interpol and international treaties to make their enemies lives a misery in the EU.

The case was "another example" of how the system "can be abused to target and intimidate critical journalists, whistleblowers, and public watchdogs," the NGOs said.

"Countries such as Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, and others have issued [Interpol] notices ... with little scrutiny or oversight," they said.

It remains to be seen how Croatia's Supreme Court will handle what the NGOs called Monaco's "vexatious legal actions".

The British foreign office told EUobserver: "We are supporting a British man and his family following his arrest and detention in Dubrovnik, and are in contact with the Croatian authorities".

And France, for one, already ignored Monaco's Interpol alert because Taylor visited France without being stopped there after the alert had gone out.

No regrets

Meanwhile, Taylor pointed to the irony that he had now spent more days in a jail cell due to his whistleblowing than any of the SBM Offshore executives who made the bribes.

He also fears he has lost his new job in the UK due to being held up in Dubrovnik.

But when asked by EUobserver if he regretted going against the oil barons, he said: "Absolutely not".

"I couldn't have lived with myself if I hadn't spoken out because it would have made me an accessory to the crime," he said.

And the crime did have victims, he noted.

Legitimate oil contracts could be used to pay for schools, hospitals, and sanitation in places like Angola, where one third of people lived in extreme poverty, Taylor said, but instead the bribes were "siphoned off by some of the richest people in Africa".

Opinion

Interpol needs EU help to stop abuse

The international police agency needs powerful actors to support its work and its reforms, and the EU can and should provide a positive influence.

Video

Monaco, a unique place for business

Peter Liu explains, how in his opinion the Principality of Monaco plays a unique role in the world by welcoming international investors who can do business with the world leaders.

Opinion

The human cost of whistleblowing

The fate of Jonathan Taylor, a British whistleblower stuck in legal limbo in Croatia, is a test of European laws designed to protect those who put themselves at risk for the common good.

Latest News

  1. Europeans don't see China as a rival, but weapons to Russia is a red line
  2. Cleaning workers urge Parliament: "Europe should lead by example"
  3. Final push for EU-Mercosur deal, amid deforestation fears
  4. Ministers given 50/50 chance of reaching EU asylum deal
  5. EU Commission wants better focus on mental health care
  6. Right of Reply from the Hungarian government
  7. True scale of horror in today's Belarus hard to comprehend
  8. Israeli settlers encircling Jerusalem, EU envoys warn

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us