Malabu oil scandal: Judge jails Nigerian, Italian

macfranc007 September 21, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Naija news 24/7 David Oladele

- An Italian judge has sentenced two defendants to jail in the first ruling on one of the oil industry’s biggest graft scandals

- Nigerian Emeka Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo were found guilty of international graft

- Lawyers for Obi and Di Nardo, however, declined to comment

An Italian judge in a first ruling on Thursday, September 20, sentenced two defendants to a four-year jail term over their involvement in one of Nigeria’s biggest oil industry’s corruption scandals.

According to Reuters, Nigerian Emeka Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo were found guilty of international graft but their lawyers declined to comment.

The long-running case revolves around the 2011 purchase by Italian oil company, Eni, and Anglo-Dutch peer, Royal Dutch Shell, of OPL 245 offshore oil block (popularly known as Malabu oil scandal) for about $1.3 billion.

Lawyers for Obi and Di Nardo declined to comment. Milan prosecutors alleged that bribes totalling around $1.1 billion were paid to win the licence to explore the oilfield which, because of disputes, has never entered into production.

The main trial, which besides Eni and Shell, also involves Eni Chief Executive Officer, Claudio Descalzi, and four ex-Shell managers, including a former Shell Foundation Chairman, Malcolm Brinded, is expected to drag on for months.

But Obi and Di Nardo, accused of being middlemen and taking illegal kickbacks, had asked for a separate fast-track trial which, under Italian law, allows sentences to be cut by a third. Thursday’s ruling will not tie the court’s hand in the main trial. The next hearing of the main trial involving Eni, Shell and 13 people is set for September 26.

Barnaby Pace, anti-corruption campaigner at Global Witness, was quoted as saying, “This judgment will send shivers down the corporate spines of the oil industry.”

In an emailed statement, a spokeswoman for Shell was quoted as saying that neither Obi nor Di Nardo worked on behalf of the company, adding that it was waiting to see the fast-track judge’s written decision.

It said: “Based on our review of the Prosecutor of Milan’s file and all of the information and facts available to us, we do not believe that there is a basis to convict Shell or any of its former employees of alleged offences.”

Also in emailed comments, Italian oil company Eni reiterated it had acted correctly in the purchase of OPL 245, saying it had worked directly with the Nigerian government.

OPL 245 is one of the biggest sources of untapped oil reserves on the African continent with reserves estimated at nine billion barrels.

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Eni, the biggest foreign oil producer in Africa, has been doing business in Nigeria since 1962 and last year produced 109,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Shell is the biggest foreign investor in the country, producing 266,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2017.

The sources said the Milan judge had ordered the seizure of $98.4m from Obi and more than 21 million Swiss francs ($21.9m) from Di Nardo.

Prosecutors had alleged that Obi received a mandate from a former Nigerian Petroleum Minister, Dan Etete, to find a buyer for OPL 245, collecting $114m. Di Nardo, they said, took $24m of that amount for putting Obi in touch with Eni.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, said Nigeria paid the sum of $70 million by the United Kingdom, from the controversial Malabu oil deal.

Malami had announced the sum of $85 million as the money expected to be recovered from the UK in respect of the Malabu deal; and the payment made is short of $15 million.

The minister disclosed that only $70 million was paid because there were deductions made by the British government; however, he stated that the federal government was making issues over the balance.

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