Malabu: Italian Prosecutors Want Eni CEO Tried

• Italian Prosecutors Want Eni CEO Tried

Italian prosecutors have asked for the Chief Executive Officer of state-controlled oil major, Eni, Claudio Descalzi, to stand trial over alleged corruption in Nigeria, Reuters quoted judicial sources as saying on Wednesday.

The prosecutors also asked for 10 other people, including a former Eni CEO, Paolo Scaroni, to be sent for trial along with the Eni and Royal Dutch Shell companies, the sources said.

The case revolves around the purchase in 2011 of Nigeria’s Oil Prospecting Licence 245, an offshore oil block, by Eni and Shell for about $1.3bn.

The OPL 245, believed to be the largest in Africa, was said to have been fraudulently acquired from the Federal Government by Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in 1998.

The oil block, which was awarded by the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dan Etete, to Malabu Oil and Gas, a company in which he was a shareholder, was sold to Shell and Eni in what has been described as a shady transaction.

The Italian prosecutors’ request comes amid political uncertainty in Italy and just weeks before the government is due to propose its CEO candidate for Eni for the next three years.

Descalzi, who since taking the helm in 2014 has refocused the group on its primary role of finding oil and gas, could be reappointed.