MALABU: Italian Prosecutors Drop $1.3 Billion Appeal Against Eni, Shell
With the Appeal Court formally taking note of the decision Tuesday, the criminal case will be closed and the acquittal of all defendants will be concluded. Italian prosecutors on Tuesday dropped criminal proceedings over the controversial OPL 245 Malabu deal, clearing oil giants Eni and Shell.
According to Reuters, Attorney General Celestina Gravina disclosed that the prosecution did not plan to pursue the case at the start of an appeal hearing into the long-running case.
With the Appeal Court formally taking note of the decision Tuesday, the criminal case will be closed and the acquittal of all defendants will be concluded.
But there is a separate appeal concerning civil proceedings in which Nigeria sued for compensation.
“This case must finish today because it has no basis, in fact it should have finished earlier,” Mr Gravina was quoted to have told the court Tuesday.
Legal and judicial sources told Reuters that the decision to withdraw at the start of a trial is “unprecedented” in Milan, even though the General Prosecutor’s Office at the Appeals Court sometimes asks for the acquittal of defendants at the end of an appeal process.
Last year, the Tribunal Prosecutor’s Office and the Nigerian government had sought to appeal a ruling which acquitted the two companies and defendants after a three-year trial.
Reuters reports that Lucio Lucia, a lawyer representing the Nigerian government, argued that the decision not to proceed with the appeal was “unusual”, adding that the lower court had failed to properly assess the documentary proof against the defendants.
Eni in its reaction said it was very satisfied that the case had been concluded, adding that it was “unmotivated and disconcerting.”
The next hearings for the civil case are scheduled for September.
Background
The OPL deal details how Shell and Italy’s Eni in 2011 paid the Nigerian government of then president Goodluck Jonathan a combined $1.3 billion for an oil block. Of that amount, $875 million was paid to Malabu Oil & Gas, a company controlled by former oil minister Dan Etete.
Mr Etete had awarded Malabu the rights to the block in 1998 when he was Nigeria’s oil minister.
Within weeks of the deal in April 2011, half of Malabu’s money was allegedly packed into bags and paid out to Nigerian government officials and Western oil executives as bribes.
The deal spawned further lawsuits, including efforts by the Nigerian government to recover assets.
A panel of judges in Milan acquitted the companies and executives, who all denied any wrongdoing, of bribery. Prosecutors however appealed the ruling.
Classified documents from Britain’s financial crime agency seen by this newspaper revealed how it allowed JP Morgan to pay $875 million of suspicious funds to Mr Etete, a former Nigerian oil minister widely known as a convicted money launderer.
The documents, rarely seen Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), were filed by the banking giant’s London branch as it raised concerns about huge payments it was being asked to make by the Nigerian government to Mr Etete.
