REUTERS: Italy prosecutors ask Eni CEO to be sent to trial over Nigeria – sources
Wed Feb 8, 2017 | 6:36pm GMT
Italian prosecutors have asked for the CEO of state-controlled oil major Eni (ENI.MI), Claudio Descalzi, to stand trial over alleged corruption in Nigeria, judicial sources said on Wednesday.
The prosecutors also asked for 10 other people, including former Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni, to be sent for trial along with the Eni and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) companies, the sources said.
Scaroni was not immediately available for comment. No comment was immediately available from Shell.
The case revolves around the purchase in 2011 of Nigeria’s OPL-245 offshore oil block by Eni and Shell for about $1.3 billion.
The 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.
At 1415 GMT Eni shares were down 1.8 percent at 13.95 euros, after reaching their lowest level in nine weeks of 13.93 euros. The European oil and gas index .SXEP was down 0.7 percent.
In emailed comments, an Eni spokesperson said the company had not been informed of any decision and had acted correctly.
Under Italian law a company can be held responsible if it is deemed to have failed to prevent, or attempt to prevent, a crime by an employee that benefited the company.
The Italian probe is one of several threads of inquiry under way into the acquisition of OPL-245, including current cases in Holland and Nigeria.
In January a Nigerian court ordered the temporary forfeiture of assets and the transfer of operations of the oilfield.
Italian prosecutors closed their investigations into the case in December last year.
A court must now set a date for a hearing at which a judge will decide whether to accept the prosecutors’ request or acquit the accused.
(Reporting by Manuela D’Alessandro; Writing by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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