By Michael Harrington |ROME, Italy – Eni, an Italian oil company and Shell, a British oil company will stand trial in Italy over bribery and corruption allegations in the 2011 purchase of an offshore oil block in Nigeria. A judge in Milan has ordered Eni, Shell and former top executives of Eni Claudio Descalzi and his predecessor Paolo Scaroni to stand trial in proceedings to begin March 5, 2018. Both oil companies are blamed for corruption in the 2011 purchase of OPL245, an offshore oil block estimated to hold 9 billion barrels of crude, for $1.3 billion. Both Eni and Shell are indicted for corruption in Nigeria over the transaction, which supposedly got Nigeria’s ex-president Goodluck Jonathan and his oil minister received bribes. Meanwhile, both companies have repeatedly argued that they procured the rights to the lucrative block in line with Nigerian law.

Source: GNN Liberia December 21, 2017 09:11 UTC