Abuja — Court documents presented by Amnesty International (AI) have exposed the fact that Shell repeatedly made false claims about the size and impact of two major oil spills at Bodo in the Niger Delta, allegedly in an attempt to minimise its compensation payments. AI said in a report yesterday that evidence that Shell underestimated the Bodo spills emerged in a United Kingdom (UK) legal action brought by 15,000 people whose livelihoods were devastated by oil pollution in 2008. The court action has forced Shell to finally admit the company had underplayed the true magnitude of at least two spills and the extent of damage caused. According to AI, the documents also showed that Shell had known for years that its pipelines in the Niger Delta were old and faulty. “The potential repercussions are that hundreds of thousands of people may have been denied or underpaid compensation based on […]