Fidelity funds that invest in the Sudan genocide

A few weeks ago, I described how Fidelity Investments, the Boston mutual funds giant and one of the preferred investment companies for Harvard employees, has hundreds of millions of dollars invested in two companies that are helping support the genocide in Sudan: Sinopec (中國石油化工總公司) and Petrochina (中國石油天然氣股份有限公司).

I also described my fruitless attempts to ascertain which Fidelity funds that I personally own (thanks in large part to my rollover IRA through Fidelity, which is based on my former employment at Harvard) have holdings in either of the Chinese companies. The day after writing that blog entry, I logged onto Fidelity.com and wrote a simple message:

Could you please help me identify which one of the Fidelity funds that I own currently have any investments in Sinopec and PetroChina? I tried searching for this information on your website and in the prospectii, but it is very difficult to find or confirm. All I need to know are those funds which are currently invested in these two companies. Thank you, Ian Lamont

I sent the message on February 6. Despite an email confirmation from Fidelity which promised a reply within 48 hours, I never got an answer. I sent a follow-up request on February 16, but still no reply. Finally, today I used the "instant message a rep" feature on Fidelity.com to see what was going on.

The polite answer: My earlier questions had been "escalated" to higher-up executives. One of the reps said quite a few Fidelity customers have asked about these two companies. Judging by the lack of a response, Fidelity still doesn't know how to respond.

There's more: Fidelity customer service reps can't (or won't) tell investors which Fidelity funds are currently invested in Sinopec and PetroChina. It seems like a simple request, but there is no app in their arsenal which will quickly bring up a list of the companies that a particular Fidelity fund owns (No wonder some people get upset with Fidelity!). The best the reps could do was direct me to the most recent annual reports on Fidelity.com, which in a few cases were more than four months old. But at least I could build a list of *some* of the funds that *had* Sinopec/Petrochina holdings, as of Dec. 31 or Oct. 31, 2006:

Fidelity Diversified International Fund
Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. Ltd. sponsored ADR
42,000 shares
$1,794,660

Fidelity China Region
PetroChina
14,100,000 shares
$15,564,990

Fidelity Pacific Basin
PetroChina
8,712,000 shares
$9,617,177

Fidelity Southeast Asia
PetroChina Co. Ltd. (H Shares)
25,800,000 shares
$28,480,620

Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (H Shares)
6,200,000 shares
$2,630,767

Upon review of my own limited holdings, I sold my entire stake in Fidelity's Diversified International Fund. This fund, managed by Portfolio Manager William Bower, is the only fund from the above list that I owned. The amount I had invested in the mutual fund was small, and the fund's holdings in Sinopec are (or were) relatively small, but the idea that my retirement savings are contributing to one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the decade is utterly repulsive. I urge anyone who owns shares in Fidelity Diversified International Fund, or the other funds named above, to dump their shares and contact Fidelity to let them know how you feel.

Additionally, I encourage anyone who is a member of the Harvard community to contact the University administration and petition it to force Fidelity -- with whom it has granted a profitable contract to be one of the sole suppliers of 403(b) services to Harvard employees -- to drop these funds from the roster of investment options for employees.

If Fidelity and Harvard are unwilling to take a stand, the next step is obvious: Harvard should end its relationship with Fidelity. And, for that matter, any company which profits from genocide.