Oil giant, Shell has prepared its staff for what might be a long legal battle in Italy. The company disclosed this in an internal memo, it sent to them.
Shell also anticipates critical media coverage on the case, and that staff may face inquiries. It also provided contact details for staff to refer questions from external media or Non-Governmental Organisations.
An Italian Judge last month sentenced two middlemen Emeka Obi, a Nigerian and Gianluca Di Nardo to four years jail time and confiscated €100 million in a sub-trial. Prosecutors accused the duo of intending to use commissions from the deal to pay bribes to Nigerian public officials and kickbacks to Eni and Shell managers.
What’s OPL 245 about?
Malabu acquired the block from the Federal Government in 1998 for $20 million. The company was owned (through fronts) by Sani Abacha, Dan Etete and Ambassador Hassan Adamu. Etete was petroleum minister at the time. CAC documents pertaining to the company were allegedly missing, and allegations of forgery have since cropped up.
Under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the oil bloc was seized and then handed over to Shell. In 2011 Shell then pays $1.3 billion with the Federal Republic of Nigeria acting as an obligor.
$1.1 billion was paid to FG’s Domiciliary Escrow Account, from where the sum of $801,540,000 was transferred to 2 different accounts, one in First Bank and the other in Keystone Bank, upon the instruction of Mohammed Bello Adoke (the Attorney General of the Federation). Etete was the sole signatory to both accounts. A United Kingdom court has frozen $85 million being proceeds from the sale of the block.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, commonly known as Shell, is a British–Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1907 in London. The stock is currently trading at 28.50 euros on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
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This article doesn’t mention that the owners of Malabu went to court after seizure of the oil block by the obasanjo Government and Malabu won the case and got the oil block back.
Thank you for the observation