{"id":31717,"date":"2014-10-03T17:43:24","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T16:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=31717"},"modified":"2014-10-03T17:43:24","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T16:43:24","slug":"italian-oil-firm-paid-533-million-bribe-nigeria-oilfield-deal-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/italian-oil-firm-paid-533-million-bribe-nigeria-oilfield-deal-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Oil Firm paid $533 million bribe for Nigeria oilfield deal \u2013 Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1412353290145_6328\" class=\"y-module message-header base-header\" style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1412353290145_6125\" class=\"base-card \" style=\"color: #000000;\">\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1412353290145_6130\" class=\"base-card-body\">\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1412353290145_6126\" class=\"msg-body inner  undoreset\" tabindex=\"0\">Italian prosecutors investigating state-owned oil giant Eni SpA over a<br \/>\nNigeria oilfield deal three years ago believe half of the $1.1 billion<br \/>\nthat Eni paid went as bribes to government officials or to intermediaries<br \/>\nwith close ties to them.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters said Thursday it had seen a letter from Italian law enforcement<br \/>\nofficials to the UK\u2019s Crown Prosecution Service that asked for help<br \/>\nfreezing assets of Nigerian suspects.<\/p>\n<p>Italian prosecutors said in the letter that \u201cat least $533 million (about<br \/>\nN86billion) was paid to Nigerian officials and intermediaries who helped<br \/>\nsecure the sale,\u201d Reuters said.<\/p>\n<p>The Milan prosecutors have placed Eni, its former chief executive Paolo<br \/>\nScaroni, and current CEO Claudio Descalzi under investigation for alleged<br \/>\ncorruption in connection with Eni\u2019s 2011 purchase of a 50 percent interest<br \/>\nin Nigeria\u2019s OPL 245 offshore oil field.<\/p>\n<p>Royal Dutch Shell holds the other 50 percent stake and hasn\u2019t been<br \/>\nimplicated in the bribery probe.<\/p>\n<p>The two individual defendants have denied any wrongdoing and haven\u2019t been<br \/>\ncharged.<\/p>\n<p>Eni said all the money for the purchase went to the Nigerian government<br \/>\nand Malabu Oil and Gas.<\/p>\n<p>Malabu reportedly had close ties to former Nigeria oil minister Dan Etete.<\/p>\n<p>Eni denies any \u201cillegal conduct\u201d and said the money was not used to<br \/>\ninfluence public officials or the purchase process.<\/p>\n<p>A British court acting at the request of Milan prosecutors froze two bank<br \/>\naccounts belonging to Emeka Obi that contained a combined $190 million.<\/p>\n<p>Obi is thought to have served as an intermediary for the OPL 245 deal.<\/p>\n<p>The deepwater acreage has estimated reserves of about 9 billion barrels of<br \/>\noil.<\/p>\n<p>British police opened an investigation last year into the OPL 245<br \/>\ntransaction.<\/p>\n<p>Transparency campaigners in Nigeria had complained that Malabu Oil and Gas<br \/>\nwas registered just five days before it was awarded the OPL 245 block for<br \/>\njust $2 million. It then flipped the block to the Eni \/ Shell venture for<br \/>\n$1.09 billion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe proceeds of crime unit is investigating a money-laundering allegation<br \/>\nin the UK in connection with OPL 245. The investigation is at an early<br \/>\nstage, a UK spokesperson said in July 2013.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Italian prosecutors investigating state-owned oil giant Eni SpA over a Nigeria oilfield deal three years ago believe half of the $1.1 billion that Eni paid went as bribes to government&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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