Malabu Scandal: Reactions As Italy Court Acquits Shell, Eni Of Corruption

The Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Ben Van Beurden, on Wednesday, reacted to a Milan Tribunal’s verdict which acquitted the company of corruption in the Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245 purported deal in Nigeria.

The judge, Marco Tremolada, reportedly said that Shell and Eni Italian multinational Oil and Gas company had no case to answer in the multi-billion oil scandal.

Reuters reports that “the long-running case revolved around the $1.3 billion purchase by Eni and Shell of the OPL 245 offshore oilfield in Nigeria in 2011 from Malabu Oil and Gas, a company owned by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete.”

Most senior officials of relevant ministries in the country including Etete were said to have pocketed huge sums of purchase money while no oil has been produced from the said OPL 245 block till date.

Reacting to the development, Beurden said that while it was still facing other court actions over the matter in Nigeria, the Italian’s court ruling was a sigh of relief for the company.

“We welcome today’s decision by the Milan Tribunal. We have always maintained that the 2011 settlement was legal, designed to resolve a decade-long legal dispute and unlock development of the OPL 245 block.

“At the same time, this has been a difficult learning experience for us. Shell is a company that operates with integrity and we work hard every day to ensure our actions not only follow the letter and spirit of the law, but also live up to society’s wider expectations of us,” Beurden said in a statement published on Shell’s official website on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the federal government has vowed to prosecute those who tried to scam the country through the OPL 245 deal.

“The Federal Republic of Nigeria will continue to hold those responsible for the OPL 245 fraud accountable, not only to ensure the people of Nigeria benefit from this valuable resource, but also to make clear its commitment to rooting out corruption in all of its forms,” a spokesman for the Nigerian government said, as quoted by Reuters.