By STEPHEN LABATON and JEFF GERTH
Published: March 17, 2004
WASHINGTON, March 16 - The Justice Department has opened an inquiry into whether executives at the Royal Dutch/Shell Group violated any laws by failing to disclose in a timely fashion a significant shortfall in proven reserves of oil and natural gas, a person involved in the inquiry said Tuesday.
The company and its executives are already the focus of investigations by European regulators and officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the Justice Department, unlike the commission, has the authority to bring criminal charges as well as civil ones. British and Dutch regulators are also examining the company.
The Justice Department inquiry, which was opened in recent days, is being conducted by prosecutors in the United States attorney's office in Manhattan, which often handles securities law inquiries involving large publicly traded companies. Shell, the world's third-largest publicly traded oil company, is controlled by Dutch and British executives. It has publicly traded shares on major exchanges around the world, including the New York Stock Exchange.
A spokesman at the company, Matt Samuel, said it had not been contacted by Justice Department officials.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/business/17oil.html?ei=5062&en=94bee42