An Italian court has sentenced Milan prosecutors Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro to eight months in prison for failing to present critical evidence that could have supported Eni’s defense in a $1.3 billion corruption trial involving the acquisition of a Nigerian oilfield. The case, centered on Oil Prospecting License 245 (OPL 245), one of the energy sector’s largest corruption trials, involved oil giants Eni and Shell.
The court in Brescia, which oversees judicial matters in Milan, found that De Pasquale and Spadaro had withheld key documents, including a video from a former Eni lawyer that could have potentially exonerated the defendants. This omission, according to the court, violated the rights of the accused.
Prosecutors argued that De Pasquale and Spadaro had intentionally excluded evidence that may have altered the outcome of the trial. The Brescia court’s ruling matched the prosecutors’ request for an eight-month sentence, emphasizing the prosecutors’ legal duty to submit all relevant evidence. The convicted prosecutors’ lawyer sought full acquittal, claiming there was no explicit legal requirement for them to file the documents in question.
Despite the prosecutors’ conduct, a Milan court acquitted Eni, Shell, and other defendants in March 2021, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to prove corruption.
Background
In 2020, Nigeria filed a lawsuit against Shell and Eni, seeking $1.3 billion in compensation over the controversial OPL 245 oilfield deal. The legal battle, which spanned more than a decade, concluded when Nigeria’s Ministry of Justice withdrew its claim from the Italian court in March 2024. An Italian court had already acquitted Shell and its partners of all charges, and Nigeria subsequently declared its intention to halt any further legal action in Italy against Eni and related parties.
The OPL 245 Controversy
Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd initially secured OPL 245 in 1998 from the Nigerian military government. However, in 2001, President Olusegun Obasanjo revoked Malabu’s license and reallocated the block to Shell without a competitive bidding process. After years of legal wrangling, Malabu regained ownership of the block in 2006 through a settlement with the federal government.
In 2010, under President Goodluck Jonathan, Shell and Eni brokered a deal to purchase OPL 245 from Malabu for $1.1 billion, along with an additional $210 million paid to the Nigerian government as a signature bonus. However, the deal faced allegations of corruption, with claims that bribes were paid to Nigerian officials. This led to international scrutiny and legal action, culminating in the high-profile trial that concluded in acquittals but has continued to spark controversy.