Three non-governmental organisations, Re:Common (Italy), HEDA Resource Centre (Nigeria) and Corner House (UK) on Monday announced that they had filed a complaint at the Court of Appeal in The Hague challenging the decision by the Dutch Prosecutors Office to drop its investigation of Shell and Shell management relating to alleged corruption in Nigeria. The Complaint was filed by the Dutch law firm Prakken pursuant to Article 12 of the Dutch Code for Criminal Procedure.
The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has strongly condemned Italy for recent judgments that now place Italy at odds with the OECD's Anti-Bribery Convention. An Italian court sitting in Milan had a few months ago acquitted energy companies, Eni and Royal Dutch Shell along with a series of past and present managers, including Eni Chief Executive, Claudio Descalzi in one of the oil industry’s biggest corruption scandals. The trial judge held that the companies and defendants had been discharged as there was no case to answer.