How much longer
does he estimate that he needs to keep on the good side of José Eduardo
dos Santos's corrupt and kleptocratic MPLA government to ensure Cabgoc
can continue to operate? Is he hedging his bets? Or is he staking
Chevron's African corporate future on the faint chance that the Dos
Santos family and their acolytes will not be brought to justice for
their crimes?
While oil industry
analysts around the globe were divided about the merit of the
President's nepotistic appointment of his daughter Isabel to head the
restructured Angolan state oil company, Sonangol, Watson's man in
Angola, the Cabgoc director John Baltz, was telling a US-Angola Chamber
of Commerce conference that he was "optimistic" about the move.
"The government has
acted. It is clear the direction they want to go. I am always
optimistic. I certainly support the direction Sonangol is taking," John
Baltz said.
That's an interesting position given Chevron's position as one of the doyens of international oil companies in Angola.
The Chevron website
proudly boasts of nearly six decades of operations in Angola. Last year
alone, its subsidiary Cabgoc produced 110,000 barrels of liquids and 55
million cubic feet of natural gas from its Angolan wells. Over those
years it claims to have invested $215 million US dollars in programmes
to support the health, education, environmental and social needs of
millions of Angolans.
As anyone who has
visited the Cabgoc 'enclave-within-an-enclave' in Cabinda knows, it has
certainly invested millions in creating a slice of California, separated
by barbed wire from the remainder of Cabinda which shows little
evidence of material benefits in health, education, environmental or
social needs from such oil company benevolence.
How did Chevron
channel these funds to the millions of Angolans it claims to have
benefited? To whom were those checks made out? Given the well-documented
reality of doing business in Angola, is it possible the funds had to be
routed through the governing MPLA party and its notoriously corrupt
leadership?
It must be quite
the predicament for the Chevron Johns. On the one hand it would be
foolhardy to jeopardize their current cozy corporate status in Angola by
publicly acknowledging that the head of state has flouted the laws of
the land by abusing his status to appoint a direct family member to run
Sonangol.
On the other hand,
if and when the Dos Santos family's grip on Angola comes to an end, if
the presidential family is called to account for their actions, then the
actions of many rich and powerful corporations who have done business
with them over decades will surely also come under close scrutiny.
There have been
previous allegations that Chevron was able to influence the Justice
system in Angola because it benefits from its clout with the ruling
MPLA. Would such influence survive beyond the Dos Santos regime?
And what about the US Justice system? And in particular, that 1977 US federal law known as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?
If Isabel dos
Santos's appointment to head Sonangol survives the coming legal
challenges, the Chevron Johns may want to take note that Isabel's "track
record of getting deals done" may have been based on the improper use
of state funds and remember the old adage that 'he who sups with the
devil, should have a long spoon'.
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