Shell, Eni Oil Executives On Trial for Graft in Nigeria

The Milan public prosecutor's office accuses the Italian oil firm Eni and the British-Dutch oil company Shell of having paid millions of dollars in bribes in order to acquire a lucrative oil exploration and drilling license in Nigeria.

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): A corruption trial against oil giants Shell and Eni and Nigeria's ex-oil minister Dan Etete is getting started in Milan. The case deals with alleged bribes valuing millions, and the Italian trial is not the only one.

Starting Monday, the Italian city of Milan will be the scene of a month-long trial that deals with corruption allegations in the oil industry.

The Milan public prosecutor's office accuses the Italian oil firm Eni and the British-Dutch oil company Shell of having paid millions of dollars in bribes in order to acquire a lucrative oil exploration and drilling license in Nigeria.

Now 15 defendants are facing trial. Most of them employees of the two companies but Nigeria's ex-Minister of Petroleum, Dan Etete, will also be tried.

Milan is not the only place where court proceedings are taking place. The second trial for the oil giants is the Federal Court of Justice in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, where rights group Human & Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) is challenging the oil companies. HEDA wants Shell and Eni to lose their licenses for oil production in Nigeria, Africa's largest crude oil producer.

Both cases emanate from events in 2011 when Shell and Eni reportedly transferred $1.3 billion (€1 billion) into a Nigerian government bank account. The two companies wanted to secure the rights to an oil field called OPL245, which according to estimates by the oil companies was worth $3 billion. However, the majority of the payments did not end up in the Nigerian treasury but went to a company called Malabu Oil & Gas, which was controlled by then oil minister Etete.

Courtesy: www.allafrica.com