Malabu: Italy prosecutors want Shell, Eni executives jailed
Italian prosecutors have asked the court to impose a fine on oil giants, Shell and Eni, indicted in the Malabu oil deal scandal. The prosecutors are also asking the court to jail some of their present and former chief executives, including Eni Chief Executive officer, Claudio Descalzi, in a long-running trial over alleged corruption in Nigeria.
Eni and Shell jointly acquired the rights to a Nigerian offshore oil block, Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245, for about $1.3bn, but the deal had spawned legal cases spanning several countries. A related trial in Italy has lingered.
The OPL 245 is one of the biggest sources of untapped oil reserves on the African continent with reserves estimated at nine billion barrels.
In a Milan court, prosecutors asked on Tuesday for eight years in prison for Descalzi and seven years and four months for Shell’s former Head of Upstream, Malcolm Brinded, according to Reuters.
The prosecutors also asked for Eni and Shell to be fined 900,000 euros ($1.04m) each and sought to confiscate a total of $1.09bn from all the defendants in the case, the equivalent of the bribes alleged to have been paid.
The companies and individuals accused have all denied wrongdoing in the case.
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