Italy’s Eni and Royal Dutch Shell knew that their 2011 purchase of a Nigerian oilfield OPL 245 would result in corrupt payments to Nigerian politicians and officials, an Italian judge said on Monday.
The oil majors bought the OPL 245 offshore field for about $1.3 billion.
The Milan judge made the comment in handing down her reasons for the September conviction of Nigerian Emeka Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo, both middlemen in the OPL 245 deal, for corruption in one of the oil industry’s biggest graft scandals.
Obi, a Nigerian, and Di Nardo, an Italian, have been tried separately from Eni and Shell, which also face corruption allegations over the same deal in a hearing that has yet to be concluded and is expected to drag on for months.