CAN Citizen’s Arrest Network

Email: press@citizensarrestnetwork.org 

Images and Videos

EnQuest CEO Amjad Bseisu ran away when approached by three women from Citizens Arrest Network this afternoon. Bseisu, who has been a vocal opponent of the windfall tax on oil and gas companies¹, was approached by the women with a draft indictment² accusing him of two counts of public nuisance relating to his role in the production, distribution and disposal of oil. According to the last publicly available figures Bseisu’s 2023 salary was £1.2 million, including a half a million pound annual cash bonus³.

Citizens arrests were also carried out on Perenco’s Group General Counsel, Jonathan Parr, and Chief Financial Officer, Gilles d'Argouges, this afternoon. Parr was approached by two women from Citizens Arrest Network and served with draft indictment papers for two counts of public nuisance. He later entered Perenco Headquarters in central London after which staff locked the entrance. D'Argouges was then approached by two women and informed that he was being placed under citizen’s arrest. Unable to enter the Perenco offices, he took the draft indictment papers⁴ from the women and spent around fifteen minutes sitting on a bench reading them.

Citizens arrests were also carried out on Perenco’s Group General Counsel, Jonathan Parr, and Chief Financial Officer, Gilles d'Argouges, this afternoon. Parr was approached by two women from Citizens Arrest Network and served with draft indictment⁵ papers for two counts of public Since 2013, Bseisu has donated half a million pounds to the Conservative Party⁶ and recently a subsidiary of EnQuest was awarded a North Sea drilling licence, despite being fined in 2022 for breaching gas flaring limits⁷. These limits are crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigating environmental and health impacts. The company has recently expanded their operations into Vietnam and in 2023 were granted permission to develop the Kraken oil field in the North Sea⁸.

Perenco is currently being investigated in the DRC following complaints from residents and NGOs, accusing the company of polluting the environment through its oil spills, improper burial of toxic waste, and natural gas flaring that’s impacted residents’ health and livelihoods⁹. In 2023 French police investigated the company for corruption¹⁰ and in Poole, 200 barrels of oil were leaked into the area, of which there has been no fines or punishments to date¹¹, despite the damage this has caused to the environment in the area. In March 2024, 6 workers were killed on one of their oil platforms, which is speculated to have happened due to poor safety culture in the company¹².

Retired GP Dr Katharine Fallon, who citizens arrested Perenco Chief Financial Officer, Gilles d'Argouges, said: “As a doctor, I believe that everyone has a right to safety, security and health. The emissions caused by Gilles d'Argouges prioritise profit over health, driving the climate disaster. He gets away with it because his actions take place out of view of public scrutiny. We placed him under citizen’s arrest today so the public can be given the opportunity to judge for themselves if they find his actions, and their consequences, to be acceptable.”

Draft indictment papers were also served to the head offices of Prax Group today, accusing four members of their executive leadership team of two counts of public nuisance for their roles in the production, distribution and disposal of oil.

The delivery of the indictment papers follows citizen’s arrests on Serica Energy Corporate Affairs Officer Stephen Lambert, Chief Executive Officer Harbour Energy and former Shell Gas & Power, Linda Z Cook, Enquest Chief Financial Officer, Jonathan Copus on Monday. Last week two executives at Thames Water, Chris Weston and Alastair Cochran, were also placed under citizen's arrest under suspicion of committing multiple counts of public nuisance¹³.

- ENDS -

Sources