FILE PHOTO: The Royal Dutch Shell logo is seen at a Shell petrol station in London, January 31, 2008. REUTERS/Toby Melville
LONDON (Reuters) - An Italian court acquitted Royal Dutch Shell and Italy s Eni on Wednesday of corruption in one of the oil industry s biggest court cases centred around the acquisition of a Nigerian oilfield in 2011.
Italian prosecutors alleged that most of the $1.3 billion purchase price for the licence for the offshore oilfield known as OPL 245 was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen.
Shell and Eni and the managers accused in the Milan court case, including Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi, have all denied wrongdoing.
Nigeria s OPL 245 oilfield license bribery cases
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Timeline: Nigeria s OPL 245 oilfield licence bribery cases
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$1.1bn Malabu Oil Scam: EFCC re-arraigns ex-AGF, Adoke, 6 others
On
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday, re-arraigned the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Gwagwalada, on an amended 42-count corruption charge.
Adoke who is facing trial over the alleged role he played in the “fraudulent” transfer of ownership of an oil bloc, OPL 245, regarded as one of the biggest in Africa, took fresh plea alongside two others, Aliyu Abubakar, Rasky Gbinigie and four companies- Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited, Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited and Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Company Limited.