Oil multinational executives of Shell and Eni will be fidgeting after three presiding judges in the city of Milan, Italy drilled its executives in an on-going bribery scandal of Nigeria’s OPL-245 offshore oilfield which is one of Africa’s most valuable oil blocks worth about $1.3 billion.
Three senior Judges in an Italian court on Friday turned the heat on executives who might provide useful evidence as more precise interrogative questions were done with Vincenzo Armanna, a senior executive in Eni’s sub-Saharan Africa business at the time of the deal while lawyer for Dan Etete, Nigeria’s former oil minister in the mid-1990s during the reign of military dictator Sani Abacha also took questions from the judges.
An insider source in the court followed by BusinessDay confirmed how a fairly heated argument took place between Etete’s lawyer and the President of the court (the senior of 3 judges presiding) over the truth facts of evidence and testimonies presented by United States based Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigator Jonathan Ferris.
Also, the lawyer for Eni’s former CEO Paolo Scaroni responded to fiery questions from the judges who admitted that this was the first case where major corporations have been put on trial for corruption not to mention alongside senior execs and former public officials.
“The amount of money that allegedly changed hands in the Eni-Shell case could prove to be one of the oil industry’s largest ever bribes,” said Global Witness, a London nonprofit currently keeping an eagle eye on the case.
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Internal Shell emails seen by Finance Uncovered and Global Witness show how the world’s fifth biggest company took part in a scheme which deprived Nigeria and its increasing poor population of $1.1 billion.
Both companies said they had commissioned separate, independent investigations.
“No illegal conduct was identified,” Eni has said, claiming that it “concluded the transaction with the Nigerian government, without the involvement of any intermediaries”.
Shell said it had shared key findings of its OPL 245 investigation with relevant authorities and that “we do not believe that there is a basis to prosecute Shell”.
Shell’s CEO Ben Van Beurden had previously responded to allegations from Global Witness by stating the payments were “morally OK” and “in accordance with the law of Nigeria and international practice.”
However what this carefully worded statement doesn’t say is that Shell executives knew the money would go to Malabu and Etete, and would subsequently flow to some of the most powerful people in Nigeria as proof seen by Globalwitness.
“Etete can smell the money”, says a leaked email forwarded to then Shell CEO Peter Voser. “If at nearly 70 years old he does turn his nose up at nearly $1.2 billion he is completely certifiable. But I think he knows it’s his for the taking.”
Another email to Shell’s exploration chief stated that “the President 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.”
Eni told Global Witness that while proceedings were pending against Eni they did not deem it was appropriate to debate the merits of the new allegations. They noted “inaccurate statements and mischaracterizations of the record, including, for example, description of the structure of the acquisition OPL 245.”
“None of the contracts relating to the 2011 transaction was executed secretly or designed to ‘hide’ any party’s transaction,” ENI responded.
Nigeria produces over 1.5 million barrels of oil a day but corruption helps explain why a third of citizens live without running water and electricity. Right now, five million Nigerians face starvation in the north and 450,000 children are suffering acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations.
Shell and Eni paid $1.1 billion for the block, not including a $210 million signature bonus. The former oil minister, Dan Etete, took possession of the entire $1.1 billion—a sum equivalent to more than Nigeria’s 2016 health care budget. Only a fraction of the money Shell and Eni paid went to the Nigerian state.
Next hearing is scheduled for the 3rd October.
DIPO OLADEHINDE
