Royal Dutch Shell, Eni, Dan Etete’s corruption trial in Milan adjourned till May 14
Against general expectations that the trial of two international oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni over corruption involving former Nigerian Petroleum minister, Dr. Dan Etete in Milan, Italy will go on Monday, March 05, 2018, trial Judge adjourned the seating till May 14, this year.
The trio had been fingered in some dirty oil deals in Nigeria about six years over alleged bribery in connection with the sale of an oil bloc owned by Malabu Oil.
Preliminary details of the case can be traced to the 2011 purchase by Eni and Shell of Nigeria of Nigeria’s OPL-245 offshore oilfield – one of Africa’s most valuable oil blocs – for about $1.3 billion.
Eni’s chief executive, Claudio Descalzi, his predecessor Paolo Scaroni and several officials from Eni and Shell are among those facing the judge.
Apart from the ongoing trial in Milan, Italy, Eni is also ctanding similar trial with corruption in Algeria in a separate trial — and Shell stand accused of handing out bribes during the 2011 purchase of OPL245, an offshore oil block estimated to hold 9 billion barrels of crude, for $1.3 billion.
However, both companies deny the charges against them.
Statement, Eni was quick to aver that “Eni expresses its full confidence in the judicial process and that the trial will ascertain and confirm the correctness and integrity of its conduct”.
The agreement allegedly saw Nigeria’s former president Goodluck Jonathan and his oil minister Etete pocket bribes, according to corruption watchdog Global Witness.
“Eni and Shell closed the deal with the government without the involvement of an intermediary. The money… was deposited into an account owned by the Nigerian government,” said Eni, which has regularly reaffirmed its trust in Descalzi.
On the major litigation, Descalzi made it clear last year that Shell and Eni had not been “involved in the government’s decision on how to use the money”.
Inits response, Shell also said it believed the judges would conclude there was no case against them, adding “there is no place for bribery or corruption in our company.”
The 2011 deal with the Nigerian government aimed to end years of litigation over the OPL245 block between Shell and Dan Etete’s Oil and Gas Malabu company.
A former oil minister under the dictator Sani Abacha, Etete appropriated the block in 1998, selling it to Malabu, a company he secretly owned.
The licence was subsequently revoked by the government and then transferred to Shell and then again to Malabu, resulting in major litigation.
After taking office in 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan resumed negotiations on the highly coveted block.
According to Global Witness, the deal resulted in $1.1 billion being paid into an account in London opened by government officials — and going directly to Etete — and $210 million to the government.
Email exchanges between Shell management cited by Global Witness, and seen by AFP, suggest that Shell was aware the money was likely to be funnelled to individuals, including Etete and Jonathan.
“Etete can smell the money,” a Shell official wrote in 2010, while another said, “the President (Jonathan) is motivated to see 245 closed quickly –- driven by expectations about the proceeds that Malabu will receive and political contributions that will flow as a consequence.”
Business Hilights recalls that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had filed corruption charges against Shell and Eni in March 2017, accusing 11 defendants, including Etete, of “official corruption” in connection with the deal.
Though the present administration is serious in fighting corruption, observers trailing the oil case revealed that a letter leaked in February from Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, to President Buhari dating from September, where the minister asked for the resting of the further investigation on the matter.
AFP reports that in the letter, Malami expressed concern that the case did not contain enough evidence to bring the main defendants to justice and that a trial would be an embarrassment for the country and could put off potential investors.
Nevertheless, Global Witness called for justice, saying that “$1.1 billion can help a lot of people in a country like Nigeria” where “80 percent of citizens live on less than two dollars a day”.
