Italy prosecutors seek jail term for Eni, Shell executives in Nigeria case
Italian prosecutors in a Milan court have asked for oil majors Eni and Shell to be fined 900,000 euros ($1.04 million) each and sought to confiscate a total of $1.092 billion from all the defendants in the case where the equivalent of the bribes alleged to have been paid.
Reuters reports that the prosecutors also want some of their present and former executives, including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, to be jailed for eight years in prison for and seven years and four months for Shell’s former head of upstream Malcolm Brinded.
In one of the oil industry’s biggest suspected scandals, Italian prosecutors allege Eni and Shell acquired a Nigerian oilfield in 2011 knowing most of the $1.3 billion purchase price would go to politicians and middlemen in bribes.
The companies and individuals accused have all denied wrongdoing in the case.